I Think We All Saw This Coming

Most of the fine people kicking around the decades that I have remember the inception of  "Jumping the shark" so I won't hark back that far but simply state that President Obama has descended into ridiculousness-he isn't helping his re-election campaign by acting so goofy. You've heard about his 'slow jamming the news' on a late night TV show filmed before a college crowd . Wow. Jimmy Fallon and the President of the United States did a comedy routine. That's hep. Dave Mathews Band charged up the collegiate crowd...who were too young to have heard of the Dave Matthews Band. Short Attention Spa

anyway, President Obama has drawn some friendly fire from liberals for campaigning on a college campus tour on the dime of the American people. He has a near billion dollar war chest, and yet is traveling around the country making a case (as part of his job as complainer-in-chief) before college students that the big bad Republicans want to raise the cost of student loans. Resident Liberal on Foxnews Juan Williams said that the President could have made the same speech from the Oval Office, saving the taxpayers some dough.

Dirty little secret time: the rate hike was passed by the Democrats in 2007 to give them a cudgel with which to bash the Republicans during the 2012 election. Republicans didn't hold Senate or House. Their (and our) bad luck has them gripping the Oval office this year. Senator B. Obama did not vote on the rate hike, as he was busy...um...doing what he's doing now-campaigning and complaining. He didn't even vote "Present".

Harking time again. President Nixon was said to keep an "Enemies List". President Obama has kicked it up a notch in the past few, picking fights with:

The state of Arizona

The Catholic Church and affiliated colleges

The people of America

The Supreme Court

Anyone who tells him "NO!"

Come November, the American Chorus of telling President Obama "NO!" will resound from sea to shining sea.

Job Interviews 2014

Oakland Business Solutions
HR director Frank Steves
Applicant Barton Guster

HR: Mr. Guster, thank you for coming in today.
BG: My pleasure.
HR: I was quite impressed with your resume and application, and I think we have a position
       tailor-made for a man of your talents.
BG: Great! When do I start? (laughs)
HR: (laughing) I like your attitude...Bart? May I call you Bart?
BG: Sure-all my friends do.
HR: Okay, Bart-I just have a few questions-if I make these interviews too short, my boss thinks I'm not
       working hard enough, y'know?
BG: I hear you, Frank-ask me anything. Open book.
HR: Okay! Just a few points to cover...on your application, on the line covering
       arrests, whether you had ever been in trouble with the law, you wrote none. Is that true?
BG: Well...I had a few speeding tickets back in high school, but nothing since then.
HR: I see. Just driving a bit too fast. When we're kids, we gotta get everywhere in a hurry, don't we?
BG: Yeah, heavy foot syndrome-that's what my Dad called it.
HR: Heavy foot syn...so, nothing since high school?
BG: Straight and narrow, Frank.
HR: Good to hear, Bart. You know, when you came in to drop off your resume the other day, I thought I
       knew you from somewhere. Blue streak?
BG: Excuse me?
HR: Didn't you used to have a blue streak in your hair, Bart? I see that you keep it shaved now.
BG: Um...yeah, a few years ago in college I did have blue in my hair.
HR: I thought so! You! You were that guy in that Occupy Wall Street group- a spokesman for the
       movement!
BG: Um...
HR: Sure it was you! I remember you pouring red paint on that Cadillac. You and your buddies were
        carted off to jail!
BG: Charges were dropped, Frank. We were...
HR: Yup! I remember-charges were dropped, as the company you were protesting didn't want any more
         bad press. You wouldn't start any trouble here at OBS, would you?
BG: No!
HR: Guster, you know how tight the job market is-I have a plum position available that 80% of this year's college graduates would kill just to interview for-they never put paint on a car or protested anything- why should I hire you?
BG:  I...I...I can't believe this.
HR: Believe what you like. Why should I hire you? Why should I take a chance on someone who has
       been  a troublemaker in the past?
BG: Mr. Steves, please-I need this job! I can't believe you would...
HR: Believe I would what? Blackball you? You blackballed yourself. Actions have consequences, Mr.
       Guster, and I think my boss would consider this interview to be long enough. Have a good day.

Sammy's Grinders and Subs
Shift manager Jim W.
Applicant Barton Guster
JW: You get three plastic aprons a week, $6.50 taken out of your first check for the hat. We'll start you
on the deep fryer.
BG: Thank you!

Five...Four...Nine

I've decided to add to my unregimented regimen for physical lifeness: Walk five blocks to work, after work four more blocks to the 'gym'-exercise, and then nine blocks back home, 60% uphill.
It felt good today, and I hope to do it often enough to add it as a habit, at least in the Spring/Summer/Fall during good weather. I do have enough sense to stay out of the rain.
I am heartened in my quest for better health to see seniors keeping fit at the gym every day, doing the work to keep their bodies working. I hope that I am still able to grind it out in my seventies.
Last week I realized, when visiting my brother's graveside, that I am now the age he was when he passed away. He had a hard life, fighting ill health through most of it. Both he and my Dad had diabetes; their health problems have spurred me on to exercise and to take better care of my health. No diabetes so far!
Dropping coffee (five months now) has been good; if I ever go back on the bean I won't beat myself up over being weak, but I'm enjoying tea now.
Here's the nut of the issue: back before I started exercising, when I was drinking coffee and junk-fooding, sitting in a computer chair/laying in bed watching TV...I was becoming immobile. I hurt-aches and pains from too much stress-I had a trick knee that would yell at me going up and down stairs.
Thanks to another knee-one of my Dad's, which had to be replaced-I would bring him to rehab at the hospital physical therapy.
Since I had to bring him to PT, I joined the gym...and discovered how stress would melt away, how I could feel better. Soon, rather than me waiting for him to get done, he would be waiting for me to finish my workout.
That was a few years ago now, and I have never felt better in my life.
Anyone dealing with STRESS in this especially stressful world-get thee to a gym and start working. You'll feel better and be better. Nothing wrong with that.

A Gift of Water

"⁷There came^* a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said^* to her, “Give Me a drink.” 
⁸For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 
⁹Therefore the Samaritan woman said^* to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 
¹⁰Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 
¹¹She said^* to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 
¹²“You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” 
¹³Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 
¹⁴but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”" John 4:7-14

Back in the day, back on the day that I became a Christian, I received that Living Water, and here is how it has affected my life:


From that day, I have not looked for God-He found me.
From that day, all seeking after Truth ended, as God is Truth, and True, and I haven't had a molecule of doubt about God in the intervening years. I've doubted myself, I've worked through some bad theology which I came to reject, but I've had no doubts about God.
From that day, without any change in my physical environment...I knew the world differently, saw everything in a new way. It still amazes me, the difference between what I had known and what I have come to understand since my first sip of that Living water.
From that day, just as Christ told the woman at the well, I have not thirsted-I am satiated with the Living water which has ended all desire for anything else.
May God give you that water. May you drink deep.

He Doesn't Just Know Me, He Knows All

²¹    They band themselves together against the life of the righteous     And condemn the innocent to death.

Psalm 94:21

Co-incidence is a fantasy. The very God Who created all things is working through all things to accomplish His purposes. 
Even the wicked have their uses for God; as we have run 'round this mulberry tree before, simply stated, God allows the wicked to have their days, but woe to the wicked for being wicked! 
As a Christian and as a human being, I honor the sanctity of Life-I see Life as a gift from God. I got a birthday card this year which stated, "Isn't it Wonderful that God thought the universe would have been incomplete without You?"
Life IS sacred, and the wicked, who often overvalue their own lives, show their wickedness by devaluing the lives of 'others'. 
This alleged "Post-Christian World" that we are living in is growing more and more wicked. It is no co-incidence (see above) that the farther the world moves away from Christ the more horrible it becomes.
In America, we 'condemn the innocent to death'. Here 'Abortion' is a Constitutionally protected 'right'.
In China, it is compulsory-the government forces abortion and sterilization on the populace 'for the common good'.
In Russia, in Germany, in France and the rest of Europe (and most of the world) abortion is an accepted part of Post-Christian culture. To their shame.
Co-incidence? No such animal-they (and we) are wicked, condemning the innocent to death. God is watching. God sees every move we make. He sees governments banding together against the life of the righteous. 
The old saw about being able to tell how healthy a society is by how they treat their prisoners is weak-these days, you can examine the health of Society by how we treat the most innocent among us-our society was much healthier back when abortion was shameful, illegal and wrong. Back before Life was constitutionally devalued. 
There will be no abortion clinics in Christ's Millennial Kingdom.

A Woman's Right To Choose

 

A woman's right to choose to do the very hard work of raising a family, of keeping a house in order has been mocked by militant 'working woman' Hilary Rosen. Who jumped up to defend the target of the mocking? President B. Obama, Rosen's boss. 

In the last election, we joked about "who Obama would 'throw under the bus next"-as he ran away from every politically embarrassing associate...until the cameras were turned off. Then some of those same embarrassments received cabinet posts in his admin.

Itsa like spaghetti, friends. Right now the Obama re-election campaign is tossing different types of mud against the Romney wall to see what sticks. This crack about Ann Romney backfires? Whoops! President Obacktrack swoops in to defend.

There's plenty more mud available, so don't worry about President Obama and his minions running out of ammunition.

Or money. He's still fundraising although he reportedly has a war chest of nearly a BILLION dollars.

Math quiz: If President Obama has a billion dollars of tax free money to spend on his re-election, but only uses $500,000.00-(which is enough to win three or four elections, especially in this economy with prices driven down...) what happens to the other $500,000.00?

He can't use it for another election, unless he loses this one and then tries to run again in 2016. He can't expect to run his wife for the top spot ala Hillary...as she hasn't worked a day in her life. (Just kidding!-she used to shake down contributors for a hospital in Chicago. "If you don't want to see picket lines in front of your store, give to the UMC!")

President Obama has already told the DNC that he won't share his war chest with down ticket Democrats, so I have a suggestion for P. O.:

After you lose the election, Barry, donate the war chest, all the tax free donations, to the Treasury to help pay down the debts you've run up as President.

It would only be a symbolic drop in the bucket, but it's the thought that also counts.

Santorum Recognizes Reality

I reserve the right to joke about President Obama in the future, if I think of something funny to say, but this post is more in line with serious thinking-call it serious random thoughts Tuesday.
I am pleased that Rick Santorum has bowed out of the race-I liked him, and could have voted for him, but he saw the reality-Romney has the nom in hand. I think Santorum did the smart thing, not throwing more money into a campaign for zero results. As he is younger than Romney (and Gingrich), he can live to campaign another election.
President Obama came out today with a startling new campaign effort: "Tax The Rich". Wow-that must have taken a lot of skull sweat!
How many decades have we heard that the solution to any economic crisis is to 'tax the rich'?
What does that even mean? Rather than inspiring individuals (a curse word for group-thinkers like liberals who only see sects) to try to become wealthy, the idea is to somehow pull down the rich to "OUR" level?
See the group-think? Class warfare from alleged 'doves'. Divide and conquer. Make the rich pay for achieving wealth...with the exception of movie stars and liberal presidents.
How about a man who controls a "Billion dollar" war chest of tax free money? Could he be considered rich?
If said man refused to share the billion with members of his own party also seeking re-election, would that be considered rude? Or just greedy?
I call it insecure. President Obama has no need for a billion dollars, but 'dollars' is one of the ways he measures success: "I have more than you so I'm winning." That is invalid. Success isn't measured by wealth.
Just for fun, I'm re-reading a few Ann Coulter books. I can't get as snarky as she does (it is a gift), but I do appreciate her writing. 
I also have the complete collection of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe-what can I say? I'm a sucker for well written prose.
I'm thinking that in the future, say ten years from now, President Obama will try to become Sec Gen of the U.N.
The only position higher than that is Antichrist-I know he has ambition, but! can! he! go! all! the! way!?
Baseball is back! Good news for the Twins! One of their players got a hit yesterday!
The Yankees also lost their first three games-competing for last place-and I continue my streak of cheering loudly for any team playing the Yanks. Okay-they are the Rich I wouldn't mind seeing taken down a peg or three. I'm human. Get over it.
I love Baseball, and enjoy seeing games in person when I can. Some of the rookies I saw come up are managing now! Life and baseball go on.

From The Mouth Of Swedes

So, of course, I see a few somethings. Check it-
this was posted on reddit; a Swedish six year old was asked about "Easter".
Reddit is "Mock Central Command", especially dismissive of Christianity and Conservative ideals (hint-stuff I know to be true).
So why yammer, Doug, about a reddit post?
"We celebrate easter so we can eat candy." 
I don't celebrate easter, but I love candy!
"Jesus? That sounds like a goat."
Exactly, six year old Swedish child!

" ⁷“He shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 
⁸“Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the ^£scapegoat. 
⁹“Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the LORD fell, and make it a sin offering. 
¹⁰“But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat." Leviticus 16:7-10

Ceremonies and sacrifices in the Old Testament were a sign and a shadow of what Christ would do on the cross. Jesus was both the goat offered as an offering of sin AND the scapegoat sent out into the wilderness (in that He was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem.)
John the Baptist recognized this: "²⁹The next day he saw^* Jesus coming to him and said^*, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29
Of course, the Swede kinder didn't know anything beyond, "Candy". But there was truth in the statement that Jesus 'sounds like a goat'.
Remember the movie "The Ten Commandments? The children of Israel commanded to sacrifice a lamb, taking the blood and applying it to the lintel of the door of their houses? It says in Exodus 12:23

"²³“For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you." 

Passover. That was another 'fore-shadowing' of Christ on the cross, where His blood was shed to save those who would otherwise be destroyed. 

Huh. All of that from a post on reddit. 

 



 

Angry With God

"Be still, my soul, and know that You are God.".
Job. Habakkuk. Doug.
I add myself not because I am right now angry with God, questioning God, but as a human being, in my time on earth I have been frustrated, angry, wondering what God is doing.
How could this child die? Why are there shootings at a Christian school? Who is in charge here?
God is in charge, same as always. He didn't clue Job in as to why he was going through such suffering-basically, His response to Job's questioning was,  "I am God. Who are you? Did you create everything? Were you there at the Creation?" And Job exhibited great wisdom: "I'm just going to shut up now."
Habakkuk (single 'b', three 'k's) wondered: " How a just and loving God could use such evil hordes of bad men (the "Muslims" of his day) to punish God's people?" Habakkuk waits in his tower yet for an answer.
I know Christians who greatly dislike President Obama for what he has done to this country-"How could a loving God allow ______?"
God allows. He does what He will. He doesn't ever need to explain Himself to His creations.
We can be angry with God all of our lives, but it doesn't do us any good. Like talking to a brick wall.
How many of the Psalms have you read which begin with questioning WHY God would allow suffering?
In my memory, each one of those Psalms finishes with a single thought: "Anyway, Bless the Lord."
Who are you, Doug? Did you create everything? Were you there at the Creation?
I'm just going to shut up now.