Fascinating Crimes Against Reality

Forgive, please. Just toying with words and meanings in the title.
"Fascinating" is an attention getter used by most magazine publishers on the cover of mags to get you to look inside.
Ditto for "Crimes"-we by our nature are always more interested in 'dirt' than 'clean'.
"Against"-conflict interests us, whether it's a ball game, a boxing match, or a political fight. We love taking sides.
"Reality" Some people couldn't find it on a map.
What brought on this post? A few things-I've been watching the SCOTUS taking up the constitutionality of "Obamacare".
This is a conflict set up by the passage/signing of "Obamacare" into law two years ago. I remember the drama and comedy-Paul Ryan in a public hearing pointing out the accounting LSD-trip numbers that the Dems were using to show the costs/benefits of the program...only to be shut down by President Obama's personal filibuster until the end of the session.
Okay, that was then, and this is now. The SCOTUS has held three days of Q/A public hearings, calling the Solicitor General and other staff from the Administration on the carpet.
It didn't go well, from most reports, for the Administration.
Will SCOTUS toss the law? Time will tell-I hope that they do, and I hope that this, added to all the other muddled messes of President Obama's time in office, will spur voters to elect someone else.
But my life doesn't change all that much whether Obama or Romney or Luke Vader is in the Oval Office.
I will still work my job, pay my taxes and try to be both a good citizen of the United States AND a citizen of Heaven, where my IRA is fully vested into Eternity.
It is a very clear teaching from the Bible to honor and obey those in authority over you, even if they are corrupt evil Hitlers.
The Bible is clear: obey anyway, as all governments are established by God to care for the peoples.
To honor leadership is to honor God.
Paul wrote of this precept when his 'president' was someone who makes President Obama look like a saint:
Emperor Nero, the old Rome fiddlin' champion. Obey anyway.
I don't have to worry about President Obama ruining this country-I trust that God is watching, and He will deal with every person as to what each of us has done. I often pray for President Obama to be humbled, to seek God, to become saved, both him and his family. A few years ago I wrote a story to that effect-what would his followers do if he became a Christian and rejected most of the Democrat platform, working, for example, to end Abortion. his poll numbers would plummet (hey-have you seen his poll numbers lately? wow.).
Obey anyway, and let God deal with it. Works for me.
That doesn't mean that I will shut up-I enjoy the same freedom of speech as everyone else in this country.
But I will not act against the laws we live under, even if they are unjust. If the SCOTUS upholds Obamacare, so be it.
Obey anyway.

Do You Really Need A Reason?

Aaaannnndddd...of course, the picture is of Hugh Laurie, but the words put in House's mouth are from some writer whose face we would never recognize.
Boy, just if, huh? If only the non-religious could break through that wall of ignorance, they could free the captive religionists from their self inflicted delusion.
Why? Why would the non-religious give two figs about the faith of others?
Live and let live.
Believe (or not) and let believe.
But.
There is a problem facing the non-religionists of the world: Religionists do stuff. Depending on the religion involved, 'doing stuff'' ranges from offering to pray for a non-religionist to cutting off their heads. Ouch.
So okay, Religionists can be a bit...in your face. I get that.
Live and yet live.
A problem facing my group of Religionists is that often the non-religious attempting to 'reason' with us aren't using Reason.
They use emotional arguments. Their 'evidence' is often speculative. They 'reason' from a point of view that  rejects the idea of faith in God, so their arguments are colored by their Faith. (read the House quote again.)
Faith. Not in God. Faith in their own reason. Faith in their own intelligence, their own ability to discern that spiritual matters must be bunk, as it is all superstitious nonsense...to them.
A blind man laughing at the idea of other people having vision.
My group of religionists trust that God has clearly defined in His Word descriptions of the non-religionists and the paucity of their arguments. How they cling to Reason as a god to keep them safe from 'those crazy believers'. How their emotive arguments displace Reason when they are in danger of losing a 'debate' with a religionist.
I say 'my group' as we are very much a minority among the full spectrum of religionists. We will never cut off your head, but we will pray for your friends and loved ones to be comforted if it happens to you.
(hint-stay out of Saudi Arabia and Iran)
Think about that. We are trying to warn you away from the fires of hell, and those crazy believers in Islam are trying to send you there.  Almost makes it sufferable, hearing the Gospel message delivered at one more funeral, doesn't it? I mean, you can always hum until after the service.
Long/short, we of my group of religionists have an advantage over the Non-ers: we've stood where they are. We were once non-religionists ourselves, and can recall how we used to argue against the faith of 'others'.
There are a few who claim to have moved from Faith to Non, but their stories usually show evidence of having grown up as a Non in a family of Faith. They may have nearly lived in church to please their parents, but they were always looking for an exit. Again-been there, left that behind.
I have faith in God because He made Himself known to me over 30 years ago. I didn't meet a delusion, I haven't kept insulated from reality inside a church. I live right here where everyone else does.
Church. Not absolute evidence that God exists, but it is telling that Christians love to be in community with other Christians. As I recently said: if I meet another Christian, I immediately have more in common with that Christian than I do with my own family. And my family would agree.

BIDEN DROPS OBAMA FROM DEM TICKET!!!

   "He was draggin' us down." said VP Biden about his former running mate. "I mean, he's a great guy and all, but if we're goin' to win this thing again, we needed a change at the top of the ticket."
When pressed for specific details as to why Obama was cut from the ticket, VP Biden simply said, "Listen, it was just time."
    Biden then dropped the greater political bombshell:
   "If you're wantin' something done right, you've got to do it yourself. I am going to lead the ticket, and conflate the duties of both Veep and President into one position. This will save money-lower overhead, and fewer Secret Service agents needed for protection. If things get dicey, I'll ask my wife to help out."
    President Obama had only one comment as news crews filmed him emptying his desk.
"I wish Joe all the best, and he can count on my vote in November."

Happy Spring! Into The Future Oh NO!

We are surrounded by time machines-calendars on walls, clocks on bedside night stands, even a little tiny digital clock in the lower (?) corner of your computer monitor.
I hadn't even thought about Spring jumping at us until I saw google this afternoon.
Spring is a time of Hope. Even though we haven't yet seen green grass, before too long I'll be mowing.
Whatever our struggles, they seem a bit weakened in the Spring. Our feet tread more solid footings, we can more comfortably suffer the slings and arrows, all is better.
So Doug, why the 'Oh NO' in the title?
I was talking with a friend awhile back about "Depression"; she is a nurse and she takes extra vitamin D in the Winter to help counteract the effect of lesser daylight-as I am now working a midnight shift I can go through most of the Winter without seeing much daylight at all.
Possibly this is part of why Spring is so welcome-Sunshine burns off any miasma of depression we may have stored up since November.
I'm not 'depressed' myself, but I may be a carrier. That, by the way, is a joke.
If I wanted to be depressed, all I would have to do is try living as if God doesn't exist. That is top drawer depression. Without God, every Spring might as well be January 33rd.
But God exists, the future is bright, and all is right with the world...eventually. That will be when all of our little time machines become obsolete as we Spring into Eternity. Oh NO! becomes Yes!

Sheepishly Terrific

"All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all."

We may know this stanza from the wonderful books by James Herriot,or the television series, but actually they are the opening lines of a poem by Cecil F. Aexander. 

Think about it-everything you love, everything that you have put in your heart, was made by God.

I know that it is de rigueur to live as if God isn't in charge, has no place in 'our' post-mod soc...but before we were, God is.

Praise God for all.

Spox ABO In Kind

The fun to be had whilst listening to 

a radio program! I heard the podcast of a radio show which rhymes with "Wush Rimbaugh" when a caller used mental shorthand to define his point: "I'm ABO."

Clear and concise-I get it.

I would not be ABO in the same sense as that caller-if the Republicans were to draft Dennis Kucinich, for example-I hear he has some free time now-I would hitch my wagon to any Independent who stood 

a chance of dethroning king Barry the First. Dennis K is scary; he reminds me of Al Franken, but with a personality.

Just kidding about Al-he has a personality. I've been in the same room with him twice-it didn't go in my diary.

Anybody But Obama. I saw my first (!) Obama 2012 bumpersticker today, and it wasn't even on a Chevy Volt.

I'm still sticking with my prediction that Biden may 'bow out' of a second term to make room for Al Franken or any other Democrat who might solidify the {vanishing} Dem base. Teddy Kennedy? Nah- Hil Clinton? What does Vegas say?

Actually, if I'm right about President Obama (next week for St Paddy's Day he'll be O'Bama...again) he may keep Joe (the Albatross) Biden tied to his neck so that he can escape the White House. I still believe he can't stomach the responsibilities of the office-yes, he's running, but I think he's 'playing to lose' like a basketball player shaving points.

Did you see that our State Department has added Vatican City to a list of criminal money laundering countries? 

In Vegas we called that a shakedown-"you don't like our policy of forcing Catholic institutions to distribute contraceptives? You just made our list!"

To be fair, the Holy See HAS had it's troubled history of financial malfeasance, including money laundering, but that's Roberto Calvi ( I mean...water) under the bridge.

But the Obama State Department calling out anyone over money laundering while the Dems are getting kicks back from SEIU and the UAW...well, maybe they are projecting just a bit much. What will they do next? Pick fights with women and babies? Israel? (oh, wait...)

I have made peace with the idea of Mitt Romney possibly being the Republican nominee. I'd rather it be Santorum, but according to the Stones, "You can't always get what you want."

By November, I think it possible that many Democrats who fear being taxed back to the Stone's Age will pull the lever for Anybody But Obama. Call it the resurgence of "Reagan Democrats" who feared four more years of Jimmy Carter. Back then it was A.B.C. Simple Yes.

Vultures Carrion Luggages

I just set down a plate sitting next to my computer-an old Edwin Knowles plate from the 1920-1930's. I've had it for 20 plus years and, if I remember aright, I pulled it out of an old 'trash dump' on our family property that we bought in 1962. I like it because it's pretty.

American Pickers. Pawn Stars. Storage Wars. Storage Wars Texas. Cajun Pawn Stars. Antiques Roadshow.

What is this fascination with 'old stuff'?
It isn't that it's old. It isn't that it's pretty, like my plate.
It's greed. What can I get for this old glass jar? Or this stained glass Jar Jar Binks?
Greed. Hoping to find gold in a dime store item. "I can be RICH if I just find that one big payday!"
I used to walk around and around and around inside casinos, watching the greed parade. Watch someone pick a machine, dump in $100.00, get discouraged and move on, looking for that 'hot' machine. I used to hold contests, awarding prizes for the heaviest gambler, the oldest, the oldest gambler carting around an oxygen tank...while still smoking like a chimney...
anyway, there is no pot of gold waiting for anyone-it grows wings and flies away out of your grasp, as it says in Proverbs, " ⁴    Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it. ⁵  When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.  For wealth certainly makes itself wings   Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens."
Proverbs 23:4-5

I've heard lottery tickets described as a 'tax on the poor', as rich people don't buy them and poor people never get rich buying them. The odd duck will become a Duke, will win big, millions of dollars...which is what keeps the rest of the poor shelling out their hard earned-to buy a chance, Hope, one dollar at a time.

Greed is a baser motivation than Love or even Success. You can succeed by living within your means. But Greed will always goad you on to want more than you have, chasing dreams over cliffs. Don't be greedy.
Be satisfied with what you have, and you will never be tempted by what you do not have. 

A Wake-Up Call To...Wait...Never Mind

What marvelous times we exist in! While we've been Oscaring and Dancing W/Stars, amusing ourselves with Politics (the only game in town until Baseball starts up) and other non-essentials...while the world keeps turning and the stuff we don't pay attention to...Could! Fill! A! Book!
Iran with a Nuclear bomb might be just as devastating to the world as another term for President Obama; the Mullahs there must be quaking in their little sand filled booties right now because President Obama has warned them to knock it off, or he might...well, he didn't say what he would do exactly, but he tried to strike fear in their hearts by stating:

"I'm the President...and I don't bluff."

What an idiot. I'm sorry to have to be so blunt, but that was the weakest, most idiotic thing he could have said.
Have you ever played poker? Have you ever seen some newbie try to finesse the table by stating, "I don't bluff."?
It is weak. Monday President Obama is meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. I assume that a nuclear Iran may come up in conversation. Binyamin might have to show President Obama how to play poker, how to keep a poker face or face losing all his chips while also losing face. (If you can't appeal to his Reason, try his vanity.)

{Not Polka face-that is the new Weird Al song}

In other stuff we don't pay attention to news, the Iranian's pocket monkey Bashar Assad has been keeping a tight grip on power by using government troops to kill Syrians who have expressed an interest in climbing aboard this "Arab Spring" bandwagon that they had heard about from Egypt and Libya.
Of course, this pales in comparison to Paula Abdul being fired from a TV show. Priorities, people! She's a STAR! Assad doesn't even have a Crescent on the Mullahs Walk of Fame! And he has a weak chin-he'd never make it on television.
Bye the bye, speaking of never making it on television, Rush Limbaugh apologized to some college student for getting too personal in his sarcasm about her appearance before a government committee.
She was making an emotional appeal for her workplace medical insurance to cover the cost of her birth control.
Limbaugh went too far, and he apologized. Fine and good. But he was right about the idiocy of any insurance company being mandated by the Government to cover the cost of "Birth control".
I thought that Liberals were all about the Government not being able to tell THEM what they can or cannot do with their bodies.
Why should insurance companies be forced to pay for birth control? Doesn't the individual have ANY responsibility for their own needs, wants and actions?
The young woman is an American. In China, where the notion of the Individual has been replaced by the State, the government not only mandates who can have children, but their one child policy by law targets female babies for abortion to control the population. They also force sterilization on young people. The State OWNS them, under the false premise that they are the State, and so they own themselves.
Do we as Americans want the Government to control every aspect of our lives? That is what is coming under the alleged Obamacare, of which this birth control issue is an opening salvo. 
But of course, the new mid-season TV shows will be starting soon. Guess WHO! is COMING BACK in a NEW SITCOM?????
I have no idea.