Democrats, who run all three branches of government and are therefore to blame for this dumpster fire, have been working to bring their campaign messaging to a perfect balance of subtle distortions and outright lies.”
Monday, October 31, 2022
Democrat Dumpster Fire
Democrats, who run all three branches of government and are therefore to blame for this dumpster fire, have been working to bring their campaign messaging to a perfect balance of subtle distortions and outright lies.”
Sunday, October 30, 2022
What societal changes have created the "Nones"
1 ) The War on Poverty (launched January 1964). Trillions (est. 16 in 2014, 27 in 2019) have been spent, the power of the federal government has grown enormously, and both liberals and conservatives strongly disagree on results, or even how to describe poverty. In my opinion religious groups whose Biblical charge was charity, benevolence, feeding and clothing the poor, in short, following the commands of Jesus as outlined in Matthew 25, were severely compromised by taking grants to do their “good works.” (This worsened after GHW Bush’s “thousand points of light.” Yet, over 50% of Americans do not pay federal income tax, and 25 million workers are given money when they file for taxes (EITC, $60 billion). The median income of a single mother household is $49,214, and for a married couple household it is $101,517 (i.e., 2 incomes) according to U.S. Census, 2020. Uncle Sam is not a good step-father, but poverty pays well. Children of married parents rarely grow up in poverty. All four of my points directly or indirectly involve marriage. If poverty were to be ended tomorrow at noon, millions of people would be out of work. . . very well paid jobs with amazing benefits, most in government, but many in non-profits and NGOs. That would require new government programs to aid those recently unemployed.
2 ) Vatican II (1962-1965). Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. don’t usually think that Vatican II affected us much, but in my opinion the Roman Catholic Church is our mother, or at least a grandmother in our major doctrines—Diety of Christ, the Trinity, a canon of scripture we call the Bible, sacraments as an expression of faith, the Christian life, evangelization, missions, what is heresy, etc. People catechized in the 70s or 80s speak about how poorly they were taught the basics of the faith. When we joined UALC in 1976 our “catechism” book cover was pink and orange with balloons. And that’s also a description of what was between the covers. I’d never seen a Luther’s Small Catechism until Dave and Pam Mann taught a night class at Mill Run about 20 years ago. I think growth of the “nones” reflects on the sloppy, silly and social justice Pablum people educated in the 70s and 80s received. They were not prepared to educate their own children when they were so poorly catechized—both Protestants and Catholics.
3) The Population Bomb and Earth Day (1970s) moving on to earth worship, Green New Deal and pantheism. Paul Ehrlich’s book “The population bomb” scared me to death. He said hundreds of millions of people would starve to death in spite of all the agriculture and aid programs we (many by churches) were supporting. Well, we’d already caved to contraception, so why not abortion? Now in the 21st century we can’t sustain a population replacement rate and killing the next generation is considered righteous even by many Christians. Now we’re forced to accept immigration, even illegal immigration, just to support our economy. But we’ve made a Faustian bargain (deal with the devil) and are taking in drugs, sex trafficking and criminals in the deal to maintain the population. Plus, Christian non-profits are taking huge grants from the government to manage all this. People from 200 countries now come through our southern border adding great stress to those states, which then make us all border states. Communing with nature now replaces “organized” religion designed for the family (which often seems very disorganized to some) with various efforts (and riots) to save the planet, our so-called Mother. This pantheism combined with demonizing men and marriage is reducing society’s need for churches.
4) Second Wave Feminism (early 70s for the general public). Although scholars would date this from the “pill” developed in the 1960s and various books, I didn’t pay much attention until “The women’s liberation movement” became a kitchen table topic among women. I was quite caught up in it myself. I had young children, had a master’s degree, and could really identify with the conversations so many were having. We were already active in a fair housing group, a prison reform group, and a race relations group (all loosely church based). Falling for the seductive message that the male/female differences were just cultural and should be changed was easy for my generation. Between the availability of the pill and free sex (which has never been free for women, only men) and the siren call of fabulous careers, prestige, and a bigger bank account, women were literally fleeing the home for the office. So who passes on the faith to the kids if both parents are working, exhausted in the evening, and using week-ends for family time, especially Sunday morning?
I do not point to the Baby Boomers (born after WWII and before 1965) for initiating these changes. The leaders of the various movements and authors of the transformational books were mostly born in the 1930s, or even the 1920s. But the Boomers as adolescents certainly bore the brunt of the changes and misinformation. They are the parents and grandparents of the “nones” who are not just skipping church-- many live in fear of a collapsing planet and won’t commit to anything, not even a job let alone marriage and a family, made worse lately by Covid, and no faith in Jesus.
Friday, October 28, 2022
Getting ready for our art show in November
Things are a bit messed up in our house as we pull things out of closets, bags and off the walls in preparation for our combined art show November 13 - December 31 at UALC Lytham Rd. in Upper Arlington. I get to do the computer stuff like figuring out how to make little descriptive cards for the wall (nothing is for sale) and a sheet describing our "history" in art. Here's what I've got so far--although it's a draft.
". . . this show is a story of our lives together with about 50 samples of our watercolors and acrylics. Both of us were interested in art as children, but only Bob pursued it as a career and avocation. He became an architect with a lot of fine arts and design classes in high school and college, plus some classes at an art institute as a child. Norma had the family dining room table with a lot of art supplies and paper, but no classes. Her teachers in kindergarten and first grade “featured” her art of a May pole dance, and drawings of horses were always scribbled in the margins of school papers. The Bruces met at the University of Illinois, dated and married in 1960, but art really wasn’t a focus. Bob’s interest in painting was rekindled by his friend Ned Moore in 1972, so he dug out his old brushes from college art classes. That piqued Norma’s interest so she began taking a few workshops.
We’ve chosen paintings that tell about our lives. In the Library Lounge is time we spent in Illinois where Norma grew up and where we vacationed with our children in the 1970s-80s. Included are some paintings of family—two of our son Phil who died in 2020--Norma’s childhood friends and siblings from the 1940s, and her grandmother in her wedding dress. Norma’s mother renovated her parents’ farm home near Franklin Grove, Illinois, as a religious retreat and we spent a lot of time roaming northern Illinois looking for farms for Bob to paint. In keeping with the farm theme we’ve added some flowers and vegetables, although we don’t garden. These are usually from a workshop at Lakeside or an artist “how to” book.
In the Hall of the administrative wing we’ve included paintings of our retirement travels in Ireland, Israel, Egypt, Alaska, and Spain—some borrowed from the current owners for this show. Bob went with the UALC mission group to Haiti for 10 years and taught architecture there and has offered art instruction for years. At the library door we’ve hung a painting of three children who were our neighbors at Lakeside reading their Bible together. They are homeschooled and Bob helped with their art instruction. Also you’ll see paintings of two of our pastors who’ve had a big place in our lives as Christians. In the Hall we’ve hung paintings of animals—Norma particularly likes to paint horses, and owned one as a youngster (no paintings of him).
We began vacationing at Lakeside on Lake Erie in 1974 and owned a home there from 1988 to 2022. Bob taught many classes at the Rhein Center for the Arts in Lakeside and we both took advantage of the classes in watercolor, acrylic, pastel, pen and ink, jewelry making, silk painting, fiction writing, guitar, trombone and pottery. Bob has been in the Lakeside summer art show for over 40 years. The Lakeside paintings are in the Fireside Lounge and are mostly by Bob.
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Our proxy war
Merrick Garland is dangerous--he hates the Constitution
At the same time, Democrats (and a few Republicans like Cheney) in Congress and in the Media are calling Americans "Nazis" and "Terrorists" for using their First Amendment rights, which is the exact opposite of what they charge. They get hysterical when citizens object to green taxes and coercion. They prove to be thickheaded simpletons who don't know world history of the 1930s and 40s or why American blood was shed in WWII. They demean and insult the millions who died under that regime. National Socialism (aka Nazi) is just one of the many offspring and grandchildren of Marx, Nietzsche, and more recently Foucault that have morphed into BLM and CRT. It's alive and well in our leftist politicians. That doesn't describe our patriots and citizens who want children to live and thrive in freedom.
And although I'm so thankful Garland didn't get his chance at SCOTUS having been blocked by Republicans when Obama nominated him, I do think he's trying to punish half the nation for that 2016 "insult." He was unfit then, and a disaster now.
Christian Martyrs in Nigeria
"At the beginning of his administration, Biden called on the State Department to monitor vigilantly countries that do not embrace “transgender rights” and authorized diplomats to meddle in their affairs. A country that upholds the natural moral law is more likely to end up on a State Department blacklist than a country that violates it. To hear Biden and Blinken speak, one would think Christians pose the greatest threat to “global progress.” Biden’s rhetoric about Islamic countries is always very hesitant, but it turns very robust on the subject of “Christian nationalists” like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán."
According to Gallup poll in Dec. 2021, about three in four Americans said they identify with a specific religious faith. By far the largest proportion, 69%, identify with a Christian religion, including 35% who are Protestant, 22% Catholic and 12% who identify with another Christian religion or simply as a "Christian." " And yet both Obama and Biden refuse to call this a Christian nation. Not everything is defined in the Constitution, like what is a woman, and what is a marriage, but sometimes politicians have no common sense about what is common knowledge.
https://spectator.org/christians-warned-biden-and-blinken-about-nigeria/?
Fulani Terrorists Kill More than 70 Christians in Central Nigeria | Christian News Network
Power to Help - Morningstar News
Christians killed in Nigeria (theallineed.com)
Nigerian Christians Protest Deborah’s Death...... | News & Reporting | Christianity Today
Monday, October 24, 2022
Raphael and the Salvation Army Band
Working in partnership with the Old Masters Picture Gallery (part of the Dresden State Art Collections) located in Columbus’s sister-city of Dresden, CMA will present for the first time to American audiences these monumental and historically significant works, woven directly from cartoons (painted compositions) by the Renaissance master Raphael. The Dresden tapestries underwent extensive restoration in the 1990s but had not been on display since 2008. Following their début in an exhibition for European audiences at the Dresden Picture Gallery last year, this will be the tapestries’ first ever trip to the United States. The exhibition focuses on the creation of the Dresden tapestries and introduces their various patrons and owners through the centuries—in particular, Charles I, King of England, and Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland—while also highlighting Raphael’s broad impact and influence on later artists."
The religion of the Left
The Party's faith in Sustainability, a poem
(by Norma Bruce, based on an idea in How Sustainability is Becoming the One True Corporate Religion by Ellen Weinreb, Dec. 20, 2011)
Their Religion, the One True, is SustainabilityTheir Cult is Climate Change
Their Cathedrals are on every college campus
Their Priests are staffing corporate H.R. departments
Their testimonies speak lived experience of oppression
Their Galileo's trial is a January 6 Committee
Their choir directors creates castrati
Bill Gates, a capitalist who can control the world
https://summit.news/2022/10/19/video-bill-gates-says-european-energy-crisis-is-good/?
https://deepstatetribunal.com/bill-gates-now-the-largest-owner-of-farmland-in-america/?
The Ross Rant, Joel Ross
Sunday, October 23, 2022
The 2020 election with Joe in the basement
I suppose that's why he stayed in the basement and didn't campaign in 2020. Although I did hear him say on one appearance he was running for the Senate. And another time he called a young woman a lying dog-faced pony soldier, and he sniffed a few little girls, so maybe he did say these things and loyal Democrats didn't care? I know a few, and they seem like normal, thinking, moral people . . . did they know, or did they hate Trump so much they voted for their hate?
Saturday, October 22, 2022
Michigan governor silent about a white, elderly woman shot
Thursday, October 20, 2022
What is your Red Sea?
The Red Sea Place
Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life,
Where, in spite of all you can do,
There is no way out, there is no way back,
There is no other way but through?
Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene
Till the night of your fear is gone;
He will send the wind, He will heap the floods,
When He says to your soul, "Go on."
And His hand will lead you through - clear through -
Ere the watery walls roll down,
No foe can reach you, no wave can touch,
No mightiest sea can drown;
The tossing billows may rear their crests,
Their foam at your feet may break,
But over their bed you shall walk dry shod
In the path that your Lord will make.
In the morning watch, 'neath the lifted cloud,
You shall see but the Lord alone,
When He leads you on from the place of the sea
To a land that you have not known;
And your fears shall pass as your foes have passed,
You shall be no more afraid;
You shall sing His praise in a better place,
A place that His hand has made.
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Diversity Equity Inclusion in higher education
Equity is inequality
Inclusion is exclusion.
D.E.I. departments are establishing tribalism in our country not based on kinship or blood ties, but on color and sex. Look how tribalism is working out in Africa. There are major civil wars in two African countries, Ethiopia and South Sudan, both with majority Christian populations and most people killing each other are the same race (just like Europe for many centuries). There are 83 tribes in Ethiopia and over 60 in South Sudan. If you are a member of a small tribe, you'll never get ahead unless a relative comes into power, then it's easy street.
And further, the acronym should be D.I.E. because that is the wish of the bureaucrats in the universities who have sent their graduates out to poison corporations which now also have DIE departments.
Tulsi Gabbard Show
Biden has been harshly criticized for that language, accused of hyping an already grave situation between Putin and the Ukraine and of fanning the flames with unnecessarily incendiary rhetoric. Personally, I think Biden’s warnings are apt. I’ve been stating for months that the potential for a desperate Vladimir Putin to escalate to the level of using nuclear weapons is frighteningly real. A Putin whose army is defeated on the battlefield is an especially dangerous Putin who may well resort to something catastrophic, as we feared in October 1962."
Submit or get fired
They are not the majority; they may be a very small voice. But they are in ALL professions, all of which have codes and standards about truth, service and integrity. That they are everywhere should tell you something. They've been verbally abused, had promotions denied, and lost friends and colleagues; their editors have reassigned them to the back page or their location to Po-dunk; they can't get published or their research doesn't appear in peer reviewed journals; they are dishonorably discharged, or lost access to Twitter, FB, YouTube or Google; they've requested reassignment to different medical rounds and been denied. They may also be the ones who won't change pronouns, who resist the CRT workshops and roll their eyes at more global demands to believe a new green religion.
If your employer fires or muffles those in your profession who refuse, and keep only those who bend the knee and submit, then what have you got? People who won't take risks, who won't ask questions, who won't point out the Emperor has no clothes. A submissive nation. No one needs to fire a shot to conquer that nation. We're already in chains.
Let's take a careful look at this statement, which can't be proven true or false since it hasn't been around long enough to be tested. mRNA was developed in the 90s; this therapy in 2020. Whether you're a Christian like me and believe that God has created us with what we need to treat or stop diseases (mRNA isn't a vaccine which introduces a small amount of the bacteria or virus to assist your body in developing a defense you already have) or you're another religion or not religious at all and believe you've evolved over a billion years from sludge, you know "it doesn't look like other proteins your body makes" sounds like it doesn't belong there. Your civil liberties shouldn't be violated and the first amendment and all our laws dealing with health and treatments shouldn't be tossed out if you object to this treatment.
Just about everything we were told in Spring 2020 about transmission and protection of the mRNA treatment have been proven false but there are still rules and mandates and people continue to be punished. Facts we already knew in 2020--children were at almost no risk and young adults had low risk--have been tossed out the window with no apology or explanation.
Monday, October 17, 2022
Now that we know, what should be done
- The vulnerable and most at risk for the disease weren't protected
- Those not at risk were forced to comply as though they were in danger of dying
- There were mass violations of civil liberties
- Unknown risks have been passed on to the next generation because pregnant and lactating women were included in the madness
- Young men in the prime of life have been forced through peer pressure, government edict, and threats of job loss to take heart risks with odds they would never consent to for a plane flight
- Laws involving elections were violated or made up on the spot
- Minor, unelected officials assumed great authority and power
- Small businesses were ruined; massive businesses got wealthier
- People skipped treatment for cancer and heart because government was protecting hospitals and not patients
- Safe alternative treatment options were forbidden--even their names could not be spoken
- Anxiety and mental health issues soared from both lack of care and the sufferers being terrified and sickened by media
- Lockdowns separated the dying from their families, their last comfort, or contributed to their early death
- Even when it was learned that the jabs didn't prevent getting the disease and didn't stop transmission to others, ridiculous rules stayed in place, controlled by teachers' unions, businesses, the White House, and CDC
- "Trust the science" became a joke and punch line with our elected officials bowing to the power and money, not laws or common sense or honoring the people who elected them
- One unelected man, an aging bureaucrat controlling two presidents and billions in grants to pharmaceutical companies, claimed to be the face of "Science" and if we distrusted him, we were traitors
- There should be town halls in every village, town, city, church, business, club and university to sort this out. Maybe financial reparations will never happen, but we deserve an explanation for the cowardliness of our so-called leaders who needed to step up and STOP THE INSANITY.
- For the friends and family who died, for the grandparents who didn't see their grandchildren for 2 years, for the jobs lost, the friendships destroyed, the trust stomped on we need to make sure it never happens again.
Time, ambition or will
Although I often say I'm rarely busy, I do have a dilemma right now because I can't get done what I'm planning in my head. It's taking up a lot of space there between my ears and probably melting brain cells--particularly during my morning quiet time when I could be reading the Bible, reading something for book club, or researching. I know the time is available--it would take about two-three days of intense research, writing or using the telephone (I hate that). Other than going to doctors' appointments, shopping for groceries and exercising at the gym (which is only about 2 miles away) I really am not a busy person. The ambition for doing anything at all is flagging, and since I've always been highly distractable I don't finish a lot of projects (I suspect if I'd ever been tested for ADHD I could have scored high enough for the school system to have upset my mother). So it's probably will. I just don't have the will (determination, strength of character, self-discipline, backbone, tenacity) to sit down and do it. Just do it. Isn't that a slogan?
- Prepare a well thought out argument about the wisdom of UALC's proposed capital campaign for remodeling both campuses. I know no one will listen--I've been through this a number of times since I was 11 years old. For this I've gone all the way back to 1951 when the Mt. Morris Church of the Brethren (see below 1956, $321,000) began its campaign to "add a few classrooms" for $13,000 to its building on Seminary Avenue and I conclude (in my busy mind) with Covid lockdowns, inflation, use of space in our current huge buildings, needs of our mission partners, and our current bond issue to increase even more our real estate taxes (just had a huge bond issue 3 years ago).
- Research the seven books of the Bible (Septuagint) removed by Luther and now called "Apocrypha" by Protestants--Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, I and II Maccabees - plus sections of Esther and Daniel. It's the Bible Christians used for 1500 years. Most of my personal library about the Bible is Reformed, Lutheran or Baptist, so it would take some effort to find balanced research. The public library is useless. Sometimes the internet is no help--either has too much or only the "approved" version.
- Find out why two words (without Christ) were added to the confession we use on Sunday. Even the 10 minutes I took to look at my old hymnals started me down a rabbit hole of thinking about how hymnals are revised and the copyright works.
- Many art discussions and shows. Raphael tapestries (yesterday) being the most recent, but find many others, particularly in Magnificat. I have 2 magazines subscription, New Criterion and First things that have wonderful articles, but they sit on the living table for a month before the new issue arrives, then they are moved to my office.
- Cull and take to resale, books and clothing. A never ending problem. Too much sentimental attachment.
- My latest decorating mistake--new bedspreads for the guest room--didn't turn out well. Need to replace, and that means shopping and spending money.
- Research advantages of a smaller car. Our Pacifica is too big and we're getting smaller.
- Practice math. I need to start talking to myself, something like "I'm good at math," or "I can do this," or "Time to work through a few math problems."
- Analyze the cost and advantage of new garage doors (most of the residents all ready have them, but since ours was less than 15 years old, we were exempt). It would replace one massive door with 2 smaller ones.
- Find out how to get an approved Covid test for an upcoming colonoscopy. I don't want to drive to the east side just because I'm part of a particular group and that's what COPC does.
- Plan for our upcoming art show which will be hung on November 11, but the room for the reception is Sunday November 27. Write my stories about the paintings, some of which go back to 1974, some using old photos, 1912, 1944, 1950, plus old Lakeside Rhein Center paintings in workshops.
- And my goodness. So many things to relearn on the current computer (labels, database creation, scanning photos, pdf, etc.) that I knew for the old computer. So many things on the smart phone which I've had since February.
- November book club. Will I read it?
- Request several titles from UAPL, but will I read them?
- Do something, or at least think about the musty smell in all the books and papers in the basement--I mean the "lower level" or the "man cave" aka office. Had them all cleaned about 5 years ago. Should I call Janet again--I can't get on a ladder anymore and she's just a few years younger; need to research the right solution to safely wipe down shelves and books.
- And did I mention going through all the "archives" of our art collection? Two painters, plus all the paintings we've collected by other artists since the 1960s. We have frames, glass, acrylic, pieces of matt board, pieces of backing board, all standing up in a closet, or on shelves.
- Should I buy more food for emergency storage? Joe is talking Armageddon and nuclear war so we've got a crazy leader in Russia and a demented leader in the USA, and I don't even have extra batteries in the house, and I see a lot of pasta in my "emergency tornado" food box. How would we cook pasta if Putin dropped a bomb on NYC or DC? Remember in the 1950s when the basement of our school building was lined with huge bundles of dried (I assume) food stuffs. Must have been for the whole town. And we learned to duck under our school desks. Sure, that will solve the problem our government doesn't know how to fix.
- I'd better go do my hair. Washed it this morning.
Saturday, October 15, 2022
The new bivalent dose isn't catching on
Friday, October 14, 2022
Investing in your retirement and other boring topics
But early on I know I decided I didn't like certain stocks, and that some investments weren't worth the return because they were in violation of my core beliefs. I didn't know what it was called but I wouldn't invest in tobacco, alcohol, certain food, health and beauty products (animal testing), and viaticals (insurance plan cash out, like for people with AIDS). Eventually, because large corporations eat up smaller ones, if I liked a snack product it later would be owned by a tobacco company (R.J. Reynolds and Nabisco or Philip Morris and Kraft). And then that group would split or merge into an even larger blob. But still, for awhile I could feel smug and self-righteous--I was a Democrat then and that's what they do.
That's the principle when talking people into accepting ESG--environmental, social and governance investing. Most of us do want to be moral, upright and kind to the poor and patriotic. The rub is who gets to decide, and who is pushing this? At this point in our history, the left is moving from the locker room pep talk to a full court press. This is how a Republican study committee looks at ESG:
"A small handful of leftist bureaucrats and board members are behind ESG. Americans never voted for it, but ESG is still making the entire country poorer, more reliant on foreign oil, and less free. ESG is a cornerstone of Democrats’ Green New Deal agenda and one of the most serious long-term threats to energy independence and Americans’ pocketbooks. The Republican Study Committee will push to make combatting ESG a priority after 2022."
The Left’s ESG Movement Is Coming After All Americans (dailysignal.com)
What Is Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing? (investopedia.com)
And as far as retirement goals? Nothing has hurt us as badly as Biden's inflation and killer green economy, or helped us as much as Trump's Make America Great Again ambitious plan.
JP Morgan Chase cancels Ye
- He supports Trump;
- he appeared on the Tucker show;
- he had the audacity to say publicly white lives matter;
- he doesn't buy into the BLM nonsense;
- he speaks out for divorced fathers;
- he believes blacks don't have a place in the economy like other groups as long as they are on the dole;
- and he's a Christian.
JPMorgan Chase Terminates Relationship With Kanye West (businessinsider.com)
I watched the Tucker interview and was very impressed. I didn't know much about Ye (his new self-chosen name), in fact, didn't even know he was divorced.
Thursday, October 13, 2022
In Christ Alone, the controversy for almost a decade about a modern hymn
And how do you interpret this hymn? "In Christ alone" by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty.
In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.
After our wonderful Sunday dinner which was sort of like my mom's (over done beef roast because it had to go in the oven before we went to church) I googled it. WOW. All sorts of controversy and that very line kept it out of some hymnals, including a Presbyterian!
I don't think it fits the whole O.T. sacrificial system we've been following up to the Cross, and God does come off sounding kind of nasty and petty, punishing someone for what others did instead of Jesus voluntarily offering a sacrifice we (humankind since Adam and Eve) haven't been able to do. But I know from being at a gazillion Bible studies over the last 50 years, that is how many Protestant denominations see that.
So what does your church do? Just sing it lustily and don't pay attention to the words just the emotion? Revise that verse and violate copyright? Receive it and believe it?
Here's just one article I looked at it. I shook my head and thought, "This is why there are 35,000 Protestant/Bible based denominations." https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/did-jesus-die-to-satisfy-gods-wrath/
"Sydney Anglican blogger David Ould helpfully pointed out in the online debate that God’s wrath is not satisfied by severely punishing an unwilling child. Nor is the Father like a sadistic teacher.
“The solution to all this, the Scriptures teach, is that one dies in our place. The entire OT sacrificial system models this and then Jesus Himself comes and does it. He is no “abused child” and there is no “lashing out by God”, rather He chooses Himself to lay down His life (John 10:11, 15, 17-18). Those last two verses are stunning how they tell of the unity of purpose between Father and Son:
John 10:17 “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.’” The Wrath against Wrath: “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” - Eternity News
Why does Biden want marijuana convicts out of federal prisons?
Biden lies to us about blacks and marijuana. The claim his writers/handlers are using is, “While studies show white and Black people use marijuana at similar rates, a Black person is more than three times as likely to be arrested for possession than a white person, according to a report from the ACLU that analyzed marijuana arrest data from 2010 to 2018.” That's bunk. ACLU definitely doesn't have the best interests of the black community at heart. Read any famous writer or observer of black/Negro life in the 20th century and you'll see marijuana is a huge factor in the destruction of families and businesses.
The renaming of military bases
"According to the commission’s report, Fort Benning will be named Fort Moore; Fort Polk will be renamed Fort Johnson; Fort Bragg will become Fort Liberty; Fort Gordon will become Fort Eisenhower; Fort Hood will become Fort Cavazos; Fort Lee will become Fort Gregg-Adams; Fort Pickett will become Fort Barfoot; Fort Rucker will be renamed to Fort Novosel." Fox News
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Flying taxis and Chinese education
What a shame. The Chinese still have slavery, and Dubai lives on the servanthood of low income workers imported from all over the Asian and African world who can't become citizens. In the U.S. where we have a global population representing hundreds of ethnicities and cultures and we have opportunity for all, Leftists rotting the core of the Democrat party strangle our citizens with critical theory, climate lies, and destruction of our foundation in Western Civilization which has given all freedom to achieve and grow.
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Happy Anniversary Vatican II
Of all the changes I will just address the language. Latin was (and still is) the official language of the Roman Catholic Church, but Vatican II without changing any content did completely change understanding of the lay person by introducing the vernacular (native or heart language) into public worship.
Christians evangelizing after the Resurrection of Jesus originally spoke Greek--it was a "world" language. Jesus and his disciples didn't speak or read Hebrew, but spoke Aramaic, a Hebrew dialect and used a Greek version of the Scriptures (Septuagint), what we now call the Old Testament. That worked pretty good for a few centuries, but by then Latin was the language of influence, literature and business everyone used in the Roman kingdom. St. Jerome is known for his massive efforts to get the Holy Scriptures (both old and new) into the people's language--now called the Latin Vulgate. Pieces of scripture were always available in the native language, but that was for personal use, not public worship. And today, none of us whether we speak English, or German or Russian, would even recognize any of those translations from the Greek. That's how language is--always changing--and English has more words than any other western language. Because "the sun never set on the Union Jack" and the sailors took the King James Bible with them, English has more borrowed and foreign terms than any other language.
Now to today. The latest language squabble in the Church is that Pope Francis has decided to stop use of the Latin Mass, even though millions of devout Catholics think the documents of Vatican II never say NOT to use it, only that the vernacular is best used to encourage the faithful. They LOVE the Latin Mass. Latin is still used in all official documents concerning doctrine, worship, and law. So that change has made some Catholics really unhappy. And ironically, Francis' demands were issued in Latin. Pope Francis restricts celebration of traditional Latin Mass (catholiceducation.org)
We see constant changes in our language without a pope or church--this coming from Twitter, Tech, Academe, the prison population and particularly from Marxist based manipulation. Truth is now "my truth," and "racism" applies only to people of a large swath of Europe. "Community," "narrative," "gender," "transition," and even "Constitution" have been twisted and reconfigured to meet a political agenda.
Sunday, October 09, 2022
Attacks on Catholic churches and pro-life centers
One Lie at a Time
Becket had a successful career as a set designer in the Hollywood fashion world. He gave up that career and his flamboyant gay lifestyle when he became a Christian and went to seminary. He speaks at a lot of conferences and churches and has a podcast where he interviews many interesting people, some from the entertainment community (like Chynna Phillips).
Europe's winter energy supply endangered by Biden
"Andrew Crossland, an energy consultant who runs a website that tracks UK energy usage, told ITV News the UK has lost its energy diversity and energy independence because the country has closed almost all of its coal power plants, with the gap in provision mostly filled by imported gas." (Oct. 2021) Could the UK face blackouts this winter due to soaring energy prices? | ITV News
Saturday, October 08, 2022
Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and SCOTUS
Really? A coach prays privately, after a game, on the field when lots of others were also milling around and expressing their like or dislike for the outcome, but because he prayed, he lost his job. That's not religious oppression? He'd been doing it for years, bothering no one, but some ONE supporting the opposing team complained to his employer. "The District disciplined Mr. Kennedy only for his decision to persist in praying quietly without his students after three games in October 2015."
I'm not familiar with the legal terms, but as a life time church member I know "establishment" of a religion or church takes a lot more work and time than praying silently on a football field for a few minutes and absolutely no one could construe that as a government activity or coercion. Except a Democrat.
"Monday’s ruling, Sotomayor concluded, “weakens the backstop” that the establishment clause provided to protect religious freedom. “It elevates one individual’s interest in personal religious exercise,” she contended, “over society’s interest in protecting the separation between church and state, eroding the protections for religious liberty for all.” (SCOTUS Blog, June 27, 2022)
Who is rich, and who pays the taxes in the USA?
"Income data published by the IRS clearly show that on average all income brackets benefited substantially from the Republicans' tax reform law, with the biggest beneficiaries being working and middle-income filers, not the top 1 percent, as so many Democrats have argued.
A careful analysis of the IRS tax data, one that includes the effects of tax credits and other reforms to the tax code, shows that filers with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $15,000 to $50,000 enjoyed an average tax cut of 16 percent to 26 percent in 2018, the first year Republicans' Tax Cuts and Jobs Act went into effect and the most recent year for which data is available.
Filers who earned $50,000 to $100,000 received a tax break of about 15 percent to 17 percent, and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 in adjusted gross income saw their personal income taxes cut by around 11 percent to 13 percent." (From Yahoo news via The Hill, Dec. 24, 2021)
Although any tax cut benefits the rich since they pay over 70% of the federal income tax and the lowest income receive wealth transfers and 50% don't pay any federal taxes. With the Trump administration tax cut the top 1% who pay over 40% of the taxes saw their average rates fall to 25.4% from 26.8%.
"Rich" is a relative term. But if you're talking income from salary and not "wealth" you need to be earning $350,000 to be comfortably rich in an expensive or coastal city. (That's virtually all of Congress and "think tank" CEOs in DC.) And if you do and you are a family of 4, contribute to a 401k, pay federal and state and local taxes, plus FICA and take a child credit, you're paying $92,160 (32%) in taxes. And you can see the upward creep in taxes at https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-much-income-do-you.../
Thursday, October 06, 2022
What's next after transgenderism?
The only rights group with any credibility and truly victims of injustice we generally call the "civil rights movement" of the 1950s-1960s and they were black citizens, or African Americans. This movement had been going on for decades and was lead primarily by blacks with political pushing by the Republicans. They worked for years to pass anti-lynching legislation (always stopped by Democrats) and civil rights legislation (were finally successful after years of Democratic blocking) when under Eisenhower the Civil Rights Act of 1957 passed. Civil Rights Act of 1957 | Eisenhower Presidential Library (eisenhowerlibrary.gov)
With the 1970s came Feminism. Possibly it had a few victims, but it brought it's own problems. Marriages failed and children began their childhood in day care. It was mostly legislation about safety, employment and sports. It got a big shot in the butt with #MeToo.
After Feminism, the attention turned to homosexuality, discrimination, marriage, and AIDS. Or as it's loosely known, the gay culture, or Queer culture, an umbrella term they use, not me.
After the Defense of Marriage Act (1996-2015) failed and homosexuals had the legal right to marry and divorce, there was so much money left in the coffers by the big donors, they needed another cause to add to the movement now called Intersectionality which had by then become radically cultural Marxism.
And that's how Transgenderism rose to the top. With less than 1% of the population and being biologically impossible. The current group at the head of the banquet leaves women and minorities to eat table scraps. And it's destroyed the concept of safety from sexual assault and women's sports. We now in a very short time have "affirming surgery," "chest feeding," male athletes competing in women's sports, and chemical or surgical castration of young boys and men. Oh yes, and drag queens at story hours.
No one loves a victim like the Democrat party. Who's next? They are in the kitchen making the sausage. Will you join?
The Hutchins and Houck cases
Putin's war on Ukraine is our proxy war
"Obama told Medvedev it was important for incoming President Vladimir Putin to "give me space" on missile defense and other difficult issues and that after the 2012 presidential election he would have "more flexibility." (cns.news) No one tried to impeach him, but that message was far more dangerous and with a death toll far worse than anything Trump said to Zelensky on the phone, which he had every right to do and which was recorded live with no secrecy or whispers.
After Putin had that nod of approval from Obama, Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in Feb-March 2014 and sided with the Assad regime in Syria's civil war. It's been chaos in that region since.
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden got involved with Burisma for $50,000 a month, with no evidence he knew anything except his paternity. They were too smart to hand him a check--it was laundered through New York-based capital management firm Rosemont Seneca Bohai. And our media were too dumb or too bought to ever follow up on the corruption of the Biden Crime Family.
We're now in a proxy war, killing Russians and paying Ukrainians to do it.
The lived experience of Don Lemon
Wednesday, October 05, 2022
News about the new booster from OSU
Approved? So I looked that up. It hasn't been approved by any agency that I can find in the Pfizer notice. It clearly says it's a permit for an unapproved product. And it also says this product is to prevent Covid-19, which the previous 4 shots haven't done, nor does the CDC say it prevents Covid.
Is this misinformation or mixed messaging or carefully worded warning not to sue?
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to permit the emergency use of the UNAPPROVED PRODUCT, Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent (Original and Omicron BA.4/BA.5) for active immunization to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 12 years of age and older."
So I continued browsing and on p. 19 (about which OSU doesn't warn it's 50,000 students and probably that many staff and faculty)
"Postmarketing data with authorized or approved monovalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines demonstrate increased risks of myocarditis and pericarditis, particularly within the first week following receipt of the second primary series dose or first booster dose, with most booster doses likely administered at least 5 months after completing primary vaccination. For the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, the observed risk is higher among adolescent males and adult males under 40 years of age than among females and older males, and the observed risk is highest in males 12 through 17 years of age. Although some cases required intensive care support, available data from short-term follow-up suggest that most individuals have had resolution of symptoms with conservative management. Information is not yet available about potential long-term sequelae. The CDC has published considerations related to myocarditis and pericarditis after vaccination, including for vaccination of individuals with a history of myocarditis or pericarditis (https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical considerations/myocarditis.html).
Revised: 31 August 2022
Tuesday, October 04, 2022
Columbus CEO uses diversity as soft porn
Yes, indeed, in this fall's issue (almost wrote month) cover story about Donna James, a black woman, fully clothed, who is going to make Victoria's Secret more inclusive and diverse so it can regain it's huge share in a dwindling skimpy underwear market it includes this photo. Evidence of inclusion. All shades of black, maybe a trans model (didn't read the story), an African model, obese, and who knows, perhaps one of them is mentally ill or challenged.
The story with the cover seemed to indicate that this accomplished savvy black woman is a shrewd 65 year old businesswoman who would turn the company around after the #metoo movement, a clientele that has moved on to hard porn and sex positivity (i.e. anything goes including choking and slapping and beatings), a scandal about Les Wexner's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and the transmovement where men are not only moving into women's locker rooms and sports, but taking their modeling jobs. That's a lot to dump on an older woman who wears long hair and matchy-matchy pant suits to work--like the 70s. She probably doesn't wear the product.
And I'm not surprised "Columbus CEO" has moved to fewer issues. How long can you attract advertisers who want to hold on to a market that is based in a city that is 72% white, 16% black, 4.3 Asian, 4.3 Hispanic and the rest "other" with stories on racism, gender anomalies, obesity is good, all the while telling your market they are bad, disgusting people taking up too much space on the planet?
Maybe it will work--I was a librarian not a publisher (Ray Paproki), and I'm certainly not their target audience. To me, it looks like shooting yourself in the . . . foot.
Monday, October 03, 2022
Kamala Harris is a blatant racist and classist
Sunday, October 02, 2022
The referendum, fair of course, in Ukraine
Think before you vote--it's still taking a life no matter what Democrats call it
“The text of the amendment is filled with run-on words that are incomprehensible, making an already confusing amendment impossible to understand,” Christen Pollo, spokeswoman for Citizens to Support MI Women and Children, a coalition of pro-life groups opposed to the proposal, said Aug. 16.
“Amending the constitution is serious business” she added, “and these people didn’t take it seriously enough even to proofread their own language.”" Oops! Typo-filled Michigan abortion amendment could have used a proofreader | Catholic News Agency
Saturday, October 01, 2022
October by Robert Frost
"Taken at face value, this poem speaks, with a simple elegance, of the unique beauty of a crisp October morning. With an attention to detail that is characteristic of Frost, the poem carefully lays out the scene: just a quiet morning in early October. The air is silent, “hushed” even, but for the distant sound of crows. Multicolored leaves paint the ground in bright colors-red and gold and brown. A simple scene, rendered instantly familiar to any New Englander. Who would think to look any further?"