March 29, 2010
Dear Mr. President:
Over the past several years, it has been stated clearly by you and by those with whom you have associated that you have an entirely different idea of what the Unites States is and what it should be. It would be convenient for you yet false, though, to believe that you were elected because of these statements. Truly, your election to power was a combination of both a modern telling of the Emperor’s New Clothes and a hatred developed and encouraged by the media left embraced by the lost. But there is no point in listing facts or figures here, for you believe something so contrary to the ideology of most Americans that it would be like debating God’s grace with an atheist.
The socialistic ideals that you and the majority of members in Congress espouse are going to be your downfall when you and they are up for re-election. You’ve engaged in open bribery and, at the same time, chicanery when it comes to accomplishing your goals of destroying our country’s very existence. You are responsible for growing the size of an already-intrusive federal government. You have granted more power to the Department of the Treasury and to the non-governmental Federal Reserve Corporation where you have no explicit or implicit right; you have illegally expanded your administration, upsetting the balance of powers by hiring people for positions that are not approved by either the Legislative or Judicial branches; you have promoted Leftist/Socialist people to positions of authority in most government departments, and you have discounted or excluded valid policy options as proposed by the minority party. Perhaps your most egregious violation above all else, however, is that you have ignored the U.S. Constitution and you have ignored us – the electorate.
If it were up to the people you could be impeached for these offenses, but, despite it being up to us, we no longer have representation as evidenced by the new reich. Congress and you have thrown the Constitution out with the bathwater, so an impeachment can never be without a take-over of the House and Senate by people who will properly act on our behalf.
I understand, now, what your book title, The Audacity of Hope means. It is the working title of your offensive political agenda and your impudent style as leader of an ever-weakening world power. Despite your agenda and the reckless actions of Congress, our economy is an abysmal failure with steadily high unemployment and a currency value that is at a record low. The people have no faith in investments either on the stock market, in real estate, or in the value of the dollar. We are bracing ourselves for a worsening situation because of your record-breaking debt creation through various obscene government spending plans like health care reform and troubled asset relief.
Mr. President, this you will be unable to ignore: We, the citizenry, understand your motives and, in the long run, we will shut down the Obama-style totalitarianism that you are racing to create. Even if it is not accomplished this year, it will be so by 2012 through the legitimate election of conservative people who believe in the solidity of our Constitution and in those Godly principles on which it is firmly based.
Sincerely,
Publius
Monday, March 29, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Email to teachers @MHS regarding budget cuts
Excerpts from an email sent to Mathews High School teachers dated March 5, 2010 sent by David Malechek, principal of MHS are as follows:
Budget News. Here is a recap of the Budget Meeting held at MHS yesterday:
o Latest projection from the state is a $1.2 million cut in revenue for Mathews County
o Dr. Holleran did not propose a budget, but rather presented two scenarios to help the School Board realize the impact of cuts on the School Division (I am only including the impact on Mathews High School; all schools and staff will be affected equally):
1. RIF 2-3 teacher assistant positions; RIF part-time position; RIF 3 full-time teaching positions
(RIF means reduction in force.)
2. Move to a 150 day calendar. Savings from moving to a shortened work-week would result in considerable savings in fuel and labor costs: RIF 2-3 teacher assistants; RIF one part-time position; explore options of teachers working ½ time (teachers salary and number of work days would not be affected; school day would be extended by 30 minutes; Mathews High School would have to move to a 7-period day in order to get the minimum number of hours required by the state)
o The School Board voted unanimously to reject any cuts and asked Dr. Holleran to propose a budget funded in full at 2009-2010 levels plus to include a step increase for teachers.
o What this means: After a budget per the School Board’s request is rendered by Dr. Holleran and approved by the School Board, we will have to see what action the Mathews County Board of Supervisors will take. The Board of Supervisors may accept the budget in full (which would result in a tax increase), fund the budge in part, or reject the budget altogether and instruct the School Board to present a budget with cuts of up to $1.2 million. It will be May until we have any final results on what cuts, if any, will take place.
So, its business as usual as far as the school board and Dr. Holleran are concerned. NO administrative positions will be cut according to his ‘proposal’. Do you mean to tell me the Superintendant of schools did not even propose a budget at this meeting, only cutting teachers?
And your school board voted to reject cuts and increase pay for teachers. What’s up with that? Keeping your head in the sand does not make the problem go away or make the money magically appear!
The solution? Pass the buck to the Board of Supervisors. Make them look like the bad guy. Well, maybe it’s time for the BOS to make the budget cuts for the school board since they seem incapable of recognizing the fact that there is a budget shortfall.
I recommend the BOS eliminate the positions of Assistant Superintendant, Assistant principals in all three schools, and the issue of county vehicles to school administrators. There will be no need to cut vital teacher positions or raise taxes if we cut the fat from the top.
In another side note, please read the following from Harvey Morgan regarding our localities having more say in how their funds (your tax $) are distributed:
To minimize the impact on public education of scarce tax dollars, the House plan proposes giving local school division’s significantly greater flexibility in allocating funds provided to them by the state. Under the House plan, portions of direct state aid will be distributed as a block grant and state mandates relaxed, easing the restrictions inherent in the existing Standards of Quality. Recognizing that responding to challenging economic times prohibits a “one-size-fits-all” approach, the House gives local schools the ability to make the most of available funds, allowing them to determine where best to dedicate available resources without state direction. The House also lowers for local governing boards the amount of local required retirement spending.
So when you hear “our hands are tied” or “the state directs where our funds are to be spent” you will know that this is not true.
I am appalled by the ‘politics’ involved when it comes to education. It’s not about educating the children, it’s about money. Don’t be fooled, there is a lot of money involved. Why, Dr. Holleran alone makes close to $100,000 per year. (That is public information).
Everything I touch is taxed. I’m drained. There is no more you can squeeze out of my dollar. I cannot support more taxes. And I know I’m not alone on this.
Budget News. Here is a recap of the Budget Meeting held at MHS yesterday:
o Latest projection from the state is a $1.2 million cut in revenue for Mathews County
o Dr. Holleran did not propose a budget, but rather presented two scenarios to help the School Board realize the impact of cuts on the School Division (I am only including the impact on Mathews High School; all schools and staff will be affected equally):
1. RIF 2-3 teacher assistant positions; RIF part-time position; RIF 3 full-time teaching positions
(RIF means reduction in force.)
2. Move to a 150 day calendar. Savings from moving to a shortened work-week would result in considerable savings in fuel and labor costs: RIF 2-3 teacher assistants; RIF one part-time position; explore options of teachers working ½ time (teachers salary and number of work days would not be affected; school day would be extended by 30 minutes; Mathews High School would have to move to a 7-period day in order to get the minimum number of hours required by the state)
o The School Board voted unanimously to reject any cuts and asked Dr. Holleran to propose a budget funded in full at 2009-2010 levels plus to include a step increase for teachers.
o What this means: After a budget per the School Board’s request is rendered by Dr. Holleran and approved by the School Board, we will have to see what action the Mathews County Board of Supervisors will take. The Board of Supervisors may accept the budget in full (which would result in a tax increase), fund the budge in part, or reject the budget altogether and instruct the School Board to present a budget with cuts of up to $1.2 million. It will be May until we have any final results on what cuts, if any, will take place.
So, its business as usual as far as the school board and Dr. Holleran are concerned. NO administrative positions will be cut according to his ‘proposal’. Do you mean to tell me the Superintendant of schools did not even propose a budget at this meeting, only cutting teachers?
And your school board voted to reject cuts and increase pay for teachers. What’s up with that? Keeping your head in the sand does not make the problem go away or make the money magically appear!
The solution? Pass the buck to the Board of Supervisors. Make them look like the bad guy. Well, maybe it’s time for the BOS to make the budget cuts for the school board since they seem incapable of recognizing the fact that there is a budget shortfall.
I recommend the BOS eliminate the positions of Assistant Superintendant, Assistant principals in all three schools, and the issue of county vehicles to school administrators. There will be no need to cut vital teacher positions or raise taxes if we cut the fat from the top.
In another side note, please read the following from Harvey Morgan regarding our localities having more say in how their funds (your tax $) are distributed:
To minimize the impact on public education of scarce tax dollars, the House plan proposes giving local school division’s significantly greater flexibility in allocating funds provided to them by the state. Under the House plan, portions of direct state aid will be distributed as a block grant and state mandates relaxed, easing the restrictions inherent in the existing Standards of Quality. Recognizing that responding to challenging economic times prohibits a “one-size-fits-all” approach, the House gives local schools the ability to make the most of available funds, allowing them to determine where best to dedicate available resources without state direction. The House also lowers for local governing boards the amount of local required retirement spending.
So when you hear “our hands are tied” or “the state directs where our funds are to be spent” you will know that this is not true.
I am appalled by the ‘politics’ involved when it comes to education. It’s not about educating the children, it’s about money. Don’t be fooled, there is a lot of money involved. Why, Dr. Holleran alone makes close to $100,000 per year. (That is public information).
Everything I touch is taxed. I’m drained. There is no more you can squeeze out of my dollar. I cannot support more taxes. And I know I’m not alone on this.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Backdoor Taxes to Hit Middle Class
Please note: This Reuters article was ordered to be pulled by the White House earlier today, I think for obvious reasons. I've provided it here so that the reader can benefit from the info. It is yet another reason why we need the FairTax! -RT
Backdoor Taxes to Hit Middle Class
By Terri Cullen – Mon Feb 1, 4:09 pm ET
Millions of middle-class households already may be facing higher taxes in 2010 because Congress has failed to extend tax breaks that expired on January 1, most notably a “patch” that limited the impact of the alternative minimum tax. The AMT, initially designed to prevent the very rich from avoiding income taxes, was never indexed for inflation. Now the tax is affecting millions of middle-income households, but lawmakers have been reluctant to repeal it because it has become a key source of revenue.
Without annual legislation to renew the patch this year, the AMT could affect an estimated 25 million taxpayers with incomes as low as $33,750 (or $45,000 for joint filers). Even if the patch is extended to last year’s levels, the tax will hit American families that can hardly be considered wealthy—the AMT exemption for 2009 was $46,700 for singles and $70,950 for married couples filing jointly.
Middle-class families also will find fewer tax breaks available to them in 2010 if other popular tax provisions are allowed to expire. Among them:
* Taxpayers who itemize will lose the option to deduct state sales-tax payments instead of state and local income taxes;
* The $250 teacher tax credit for classroom supplies;
* The tax deduction for up to $4,000 of college tuition and expenses;
* Individuals who don’t itemize will no longer be able to increase their standard deduction by up to $1,000 for property taxes paid;
* The first $2,400 of unemployment benefits are taxable, in 2009 that amount was tax-free.
Backdoor Taxes to Hit Middle Class
By Terri Cullen – Mon Feb 1, 4:09 pm ET
Millions of middle-class households already may be facing higher taxes in 2010 because Congress has failed to extend tax breaks that expired on January 1, most notably a “patch” that limited the impact of the alternative minimum tax. The AMT, initially designed to prevent the very rich from avoiding income taxes, was never indexed for inflation. Now the tax is affecting millions of middle-income households, but lawmakers have been reluctant to repeal it because it has become a key source of revenue.
Without annual legislation to renew the patch this year, the AMT could affect an estimated 25 million taxpayers with incomes as low as $33,750 (or $45,000 for joint filers). Even if the patch is extended to last year’s levels, the tax will hit American families that can hardly be considered wealthy—the AMT exemption for 2009 was $46,700 for singles and $70,950 for married couples filing jointly.
Middle-class families also will find fewer tax breaks available to them in 2010 if other popular tax provisions are allowed to expire. Among them:
* Taxpayers who itemize will lose the option to deduct state sales-tax payments instead of state and local income taxes;
* The $250 teacher tax credit for classroom supplies;
* The tax deduction for up to $4,000 of college tuition and expenses;
* Individuals who don’t itemize will no longer be able to increase their standard deduction by up to $1,000 for property taxes paid;
* The first $2,400 of unemployment benefits are taxable, in 2009 that amount was tax-free.
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Patriot's Declaration of Solidarity
The resurgence of the Patriot Movement, otherwise known as the Tea Party Movement, has risen from amongst the citizenry of the United States in protest toward the abuse of federal power through the use of oppressive policy actions.
We, who love the United States of America, believe in the universality of the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as granted to every American by Almighty God and stated as such by the Founders of this country in the Declaration of Independence. We uphold our Constitution, complete with all of its amendments as the sine qua non of our 234-year existence. We, who love our country, are concerned with the regression of the original intent and purpose of our Federal Government that is to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,
We, as protestors by right of the First Amendment, hereby impeach our national leaders, many of whom claim to represent the Republican Party and who do not, and most national leaders who are Democrats and who fail to represent American economic and social tradition. Recognizing that there are some elected leaders, representative of both political parties, true public servants who are their constituents’ voice in Washington, we acknowledge their service and we exclude them from the grievances contained herein. We do, however, accuse the majority of our elected officials, calling them unfit to serve. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
The President, with the consent of Congress, has violated our traditional economic system of Capitalism by taking control, via the federally-funded Troubled Asset Relief Programs (TARP), of the private sector. Examples of this include the entire banking and investment industry and two-thirds of American automobile manufacturers.
The President, with the consent of Congress, has promoted policy that is based upon faulty, deceptive, and incomplete scientific information known not to be in the best interest of the Nation such as Cap and Trade legislation.
The President, with the consent of Congress, has neglected to provide for or hindered the common defense by acting indecisively with regard to our military missions in the Middle East in the ongoing War on Terror, he has rescinded the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) policy, and he has weakened intelligence-gathering through the outlawing of important interrogation techniques.
The President, with the consent of Congress, is guilty of several counts of broken oral contracts with the citizenry; generally, by not acting in a transparent manner with regard to legislation, and specifically, by not allowing access by the citizenry to proposed legislation in a timely manner. Further, he blatantly promotes earmarked Congressional spending after promising to eliminate them.
The President, with no subsequent Congressional censure, has misrepresented the United States to other countries as “arrogant”, as not a Judao-Christian nation, and as apologetic for political and military actions performed in the past.
The President and the Congress employ fear tactics to create panic amongst the citizenry, as evidenced by the policy introduced by Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, seeking out “groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration,” and includes those “rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority.”
The President, with the consent of Congress, fails to respect the value of human life as demonstrated by his promotion of abortion and euthanasia.
The President, in collusion with certain Representatives and Senators, has used coercion to achieve political success. Bribery in the form of promised federal funds has been made to some members of Congress who once opposed health care reform legislation.
The President, with the consent of Congress, has engaged in abuse of power by his misinterpretation of Executive Orders, and by expanding centralized powers through appointing Executive Branch employees otherwise known as “czars”. He has, in effect, “erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent them hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance”.
The President, with Congressional approval, has attempted to subvert individual liberty and encroach on personal privacy through Internal Revenue Service fines sanctioned by the recently-introduced health care reform and climate change bills.
Our President, with the consent of Congress and the U.S. Attorney General, has weakened our political and economic stature with regard to the rest of the world by trying terrorist war criminals in civil court rather than by proper military tribunal. Additionally, in the same manner, he has de-valued the meaning behind United States citizenship.
Our current Government has imposed Taxes, tariffs, and fees on us and legitimate global trade partners without our consent. It has nullified, in many cases, States’ rights as authorized by the Tenth Amendment wherein it states that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”.
Most members of Congress have turned humble public servanthood into a mockery. They have selfishly put the needs of themselves above the citizens whom they represent through careerism. Therefore, we no longer can rely on the ballot box to ensure term limits and must turn instead to a Constitutional amendment.
We have lost all manner of good faith and trust in our elected leaders because of their rampant insincerity, dishonesty, and disgraceful moral character.
We, the citizens of the United States, are falsely misrepresented by those whom we have elected to represent us. We make our will known to them with regard to legislation and governance, yet they refuse to yield to our preferences.
Be it resolved that
Whereas our President has not yet attained the position of true Tyrant, many policies of the present Administration as well as the manifestations of several Congressional actions and tactics are leading these United States toward that form of dictatorial oppression, and
Whereas the purist form of economic freedom lies within the precepts of free-market capitalism, yet our elected officials seek to restrict free trade with its requisite successes and failures, by promoting Socialism and thereby not following the enumerated powers of the Constitution, and
Whereas the American people are weary of an oversized, overbearing, inefficient, and costly Federal Government,
We, the Patriots of the United States of America, therefore, make this Declaration of Solidarity in an effort to define our position and to avow to work tirelessly in order to realize a return to Constitutional Government under God, of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert B. Thompson
We, who love the United States of America, believe in the universality of the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as granted to every American by Almighty God and stated as such by the Founders of this country in the Declaration of Independence. We uphold our Constitution, complete with all of its amendments as the sine qua non of our 234-year existence. We, who love our country, are concerned with the regression of the original intent and purpose of our Federal Government that is to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,
We, as protestors by right of the First Amendment, hereby impeach our national leaders, many of whom claim to represent the Republican Party and who do not, and most national leaders who are Democrats and who fail to represent American economic and social tradition. Recognizing that there are some elected leaders, representative of both political parties, true public servants who are their constituents’ voice in Washington, we acknowledge their service and we exclude them from the grievances contained herein. We do, however, accuse the majority of our elected officials, calling them unfit to serve. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
The President, with the consent of Congress, has violated our traditional economic system of Capitalism by taking control, via the federally-funded Troubled Asset Relief Programs (TARP), of the private sector. Examples of this include the entire banking and investment industry and two-thirds of American automobile manufacturers.
The President, with the consent of Congress, has promoted policy that is based upon faulty, deceptive, and incomplete scientific information known not to be in the best interest of the Nation such as Cap and Trade legislation.
The President, with the consent of Congress, has neglected to provide for or hindered the common defense by acting indecisively with regard to our military missions in the Middle East in the ongoing War on Terror, he has rescinded the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) policy, and he has weakened intelligence-gathering through the outlawing of important interrogation techniques.
The President, with the consent of Congress, is guilty of several counts of broken oral contracts with the citizenry; generally, by not acting in a transparent manner with regard to legislation, and specifically, by not allowing access by the citizenry to proposed legislation in a timely manner. Further, he blatantly promotes earmarked Congressional spending after promising to eliminate them.
The President, with no subsequent Congressional censure, has misrepresented the United States to other countries as “arrogant”, as not a Judao-Christian nation, and as apologetic for political and military actions performed in the past.
The President and the Congress employ fear tactics to create panic amongst the citizenry, as evidenced by the policy introduced by Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, seeking out “groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration,” and includes those “rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority.”
The President, with the consent of Congress, fails to respect the value of human life as demonstrated by his promotion of abortion and euthanasia.
The President, in collusion with certain Representatives and Senators, has used coercion to achieve political success. Bribery in the form of promised federal funds has been made to some members of Congress who once opposed health care reform legislation.
The President, with the consent of Congress, has engaged in abuse of power by his misinterpretation of Executive Orders, and by expanding centralized powers through appointing Executive Branch employees otherwise known as “czars”. He has, in effect, “erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent them hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance”.
The President, with Congressional approval, has attempted to subvert individual liberty and encroach on personal privacy through Internal Revenue Service fines sanctioned by the recently-introduced health care reform and climate change bills.
Our President, with the consent of Congress and the U.S. Attorney General, has weakened our political and economic stature with regard to the rest of the world by trying terrorist war criminals in civil court rather than by proper military tribunal. Additionally, in the same manner, he has de-valued the meaning behind United States citizenship.
Our current Government has imposed Taxes, tariffs, and fees on us and legitimate global trade partners without our consent. It has nullified, in many cases, States’ rights as authorized by the Tenth Amendment wherein it states that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”.
Most members of Congress have turned humble public servanthood into a mockery. They have selfishly put the needs of themselves above the citizens whom they represent through careerism. Therefore, we no longer can rely on the ballot box to ensure term limits and must turn instead to a Constitutional amendment.
We have lost all manner of good faith and trust in our elected leaders because of their rampant insincerity, dishonesty, and disgraceful moral character.
We, the citizens of the United States, are falsely misrepresented by those whom we have elected to represent us. We make our will known to them with regard to legislation and governance, yet they refuse to yield to our preferences.
Be it resolved that
Whereas our President has not yet attained the position of true Tyrant, many policies of the present Administration as well as the manifestations of several Congressional actions and tactics are leading these United States toward that form of dictatorial oppression, and
Whereas the purist form of economic freedom lies within the precepts of free-market capitalism, yet our elected officials seek to restrict free trade with its requisite successes and failures, by promoting Socialism and thereby not following the enumerated powers of the Constitution, and
Whereas the American people are weary of an oversized, overbearing, inefficient, and costly Federal Government,
We, the Patriots of the United States of America, therefore, make this Declaration of Solidarity in an effort to define our position and to avow to work tirelessly in order to realize a return to Constitutional Government under God, of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert B. Thompson
Sunday, January 10, 2010
A Great Example to the World
Former White House Correspondent for ABC News, Brit Hume, who now is a senior political analyst for Fox News, is catching all manner of flack because of his recent comments regarding golfer Tiger Woods. Woods, you may know, is being accused of numerous extra-marital affairs.
The flack began flying just after the Sports segment of an airing of Fox News, when Mr. Hume stated that he thought Tiger Woods would "recover as a golfer", but it was uncertain whether he would personally recover his familial relationships. Hume offered some personal spiritual advice to Woods during this same commentary that Woods should "turn to the Christian faith, and [he] can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world"
First, I applaud Brit Hume for not being ashamed to speak openly about Christianity. Obviously, Hume spoke from his heart, offering sound advice to Woods as if they were close friends. It was done in Christian love. One could argue that Fox News is not the forum for spiritual matters, but then isn't every opportunity a forum for such things? Isn't the idea of evangelism to bloom where you're planted, performing the Lord's work within your own sphere of influence? Sure it is.
Our Sunday School discussion this morning (Mathews Baptist Church) revolves around the Bible story of Ruth and Naomi, who, contrary to GLAAD, were not lesbians. Putting that aside, our discussion was about redemption, Jewish law, Levirate marriage, and how Boaz redeemed Ruth. It is one of many allegorical stories of salvation that point to the ultimate redemption of mankind through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The big question put to us today was "How do you explain redemption in the Christian sense to a non-believer?"
Several people in our class offered various explanations. They each had parts that were useful but no one succinctly stated an easy answer. I withheld my own S & H Greenstamps analogy for two reasons, first being that most people there wouldn't have known what I was talking about; and second, it was hardly succinct.
Okay, I'll try to be brief: With S & H, many different merchants would give out little stamps (like they do with coupons today) whenever you purchased goods. Usually you'd receive them when you bought gasoline or groceries. You'd then paste them in special S & H stamp books and when you'd amassed a certain number of filled books, you could come in to your local Sperry and Hutchinson (S & H) merchandise store and redeem your books for certain items, depending on how many books S & H required. E.g., if you needed Dining Room furniture, S & H might give you a table and chairs for 175 completed stamp books. A table radio might only require 25 books. I have no idea how many stamps it took to get anything--I just remember helping my mom glue them in and actually going to the merchandise store back when I was about four or five years old.
Anyway, I thought it out this way: our lives would be represented by the stamp books. All of our faults, failures and sinful nature would be glued into our own compilation of books. All of the features/rewards of Christianity like eternal life in Heaven, communion with God, peace of mind, forgiveness, the fruits of the Spirit, etc. would be the items found in the ultimate S & H store that I would call Christianity. God, the owner of the store, would send His manager, Jesus, to wait on you, giving you everything in the store by redeeming all of your stamp books.
It was the consensus that, unless there was divine intervention and/or a personal epiphany, it would be difficult to succeed in just one sitting. I'd like to go ahead and concede here that the S & H example would be, in fact, several painful sittings where the listener would convert to something simpler!
Brit Hume mentioned that he didn't "think that [Tiger Woods' Buddhist] faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith." His statement here could be a lead-in for Woods (who apprently doesn't have his moral life together, based upon "news" reports) to reflect on redemption. This could be the seed that needed to be planted.
Perhaps Mr. Hume's remarks will lead to Mr. Woods' salvation and he will be as successful on and off of the green. Even in the sad case that it doesn't save Tiger Woods, millions of viewers around the globe heard this story. St. Paul wrote in I Corinthians 9:22, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." It is impossible to quantify the results of Brit Hume's efforts, but, using his own words in this case, he is a great example to the world.
The flack began flying just after the Sports segment of an airing of Fox News, when Mr. Hume stated that he thought Tiger Woods would "recover as a golfer", but it was uncertain whether he would personally recover his familial relationships. Hume offered some personal spiritual advice to Woods during this same commentary that Woods should "turn to the Christian faith, and [he] can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world"
First, I applaud Brit Hume for not being ashamed to speak openly about Christianity. Obviously, Hume spoke from his heart, offering sound advice to Woods as if they were close friends. It was done in Christian love. One could argue that Fox News is not the forum for spiritual matters, but then isn't every opportunity a forum for such things? Isn't the idea of evangelism to bloom where you're planted, performing the Lord's work within your own sphere of influence? Sure it is.
Our Sunday School discussion this morning (Mathews Baptist Church) revolves around the Bible story of Ruth and Naomi, who, contrary to GLAAD, were not lesbians. Putting that aside, our discussion was about redemption, Jewish law, Levirate marriage, and how Boaz redeemed Ruth. It is one of many allegorical stories of salvation that point to the ultimate redemption of mankind through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The big question put to us today was "How do you explain redemption in the Christian sense to a non-believer?"
Several people in our class offered various explanations. They each had parts that were useful but no one succinctly stated an easy answer. I withheld my own S & H Greenstamps analogy for two reasons, first being that most people there wouldn't have known what I was talking about; and second, it was hardly succinct.
Okay, I'll try to be brief: With S & H, many different merchants would give out little stamps (like they do with coupons today) whenever you purchased goods. Usually you'd receive them when you bought gasoline or groceries. You'd then paste them in special S & H stamp books and when you'd amassed a certain number of filled books, you could come in to your local Sperry and Hutchinson (S & H) merchandise store and redeem your books for certain items, depending on how many books S & H required. E.g., if you needed Dining Room furniture, S & H might give you a table and chairs for 175 completed stamp books. A table radio might only require 25 books. I have no idea how many stamps it took to get anything--I just remember helping my mom glue them in and actually going to the merchandise store back when I was about four or five years old.
Anyway, I thought it out this way: our lives would be represented by the stamp books. All of our faults, failures and sinful nature would be glued into our own compilation of books. All of the features/rewards of Christianity like eternal life in Heaven, communion with God, peace of mind, forgiveness, the fruits of the Spirit, etc. would be the items found in the ultimate S & H store that I would call Christianity. God, the owner of the store, would send His manager, Jesus, to wait on you, giving you everything in the store by redeeming all of your stamp books.
It was the consensus that, unless there was divine intervention and/or a personal epiphany, it would be difficult to succeed in just one sitting. I'd like to go ahead and concede here that the S & H example would be, in fact, several painful sittings where the listener would convert to something simpler!
Brit Hume mentioned that he didn't "think that [Tiger Woods' Buddhist] faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith." His statement here could be a lead-in for Woods (who apprently doesn't have his moral life together, based upon "news" reports) to reflect on redemption. This could be the seed that needed to be planted.
Perhaps Mr. Hume's remarks will lead to Mr. Woods' salvation and he will be as successful on and off of the green. Even in the sad case that it doesn't save Tiger Woods, millions of viewers around the globe heard this story. St. Paul wrote in I Corinthians 9:22, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." It is impossible to quantify the results of Brit Hume's efforts, but, using his own words in this case, he is a great example to the world.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
A Friendly Letter
Remember back (for some of you that's waaay back) to elementary school when you learned how to write a 'friendly letter'? I do. Each of us was even asked to mail these letters to someone else in our class, presumably to learn the inefficiency of the U.S. Postal Service.
Well, today I received a letter from Jessica. Jessica, who introduced herself as "an Obama state field coordinator", works for FairTax.org, and her letter was crafted to reflect the notion that Democrats and Republicans could/should unite under the fair tax system. In the interest of space and time I won't re-print her letter here. You'll need to take my word on this (unless you also received a letter from Jessica), but the only time that she sounded like a Democrat was in the closing paragraph where she asked for a donation. I decided to use my second-grade friendly letter writing skills to respond in a friendly manner. Here's what I emailed:
Dear Jessica,
You don't seem like a Democrat to me (certainly not an obama field organizer) when you recognize that lower taxes boost job creation and that a system like the fair tax is more fiscally responsible, but it troubles me that you can be a supporter of the Usurpent while supporting a rational, logical, and fair idea such as the fair tax. I'm glad you favor the fair tax, and I encourage you to continue reading about other similarly conservative principled ideas. I also thank you for working for FairTax--you're a good citizen!
Being a good citizen, however, entails many things, not the least of which is consistency. The fair tax, obviously, is fair to all of us, yet inflicting government control and oppression through the Usurpent's programs such as the propping up of financial institutions, the hostile takeover of two of our auto manufacturers, constant apologies to foreign leaders for unfounded U.S. foreign policy actions, coersion, bribery, and lies in an effort to provide socialized health care, abortion rights, homosexual marriage, and reckless and irresponsible budget proposals are not fair to anyone.
I preach the gospel of fair tax wherever I go, but the truth of the matter is that, unless our leaders reign in spending, the fair tax will fail. recognizing this, then, two things must happen: 1) anyone who has served longer than six years in office must be voted out, and 2) the constitution must be amended to require term limits as follows: a) senators may serve only one term, and b) representatives' term shall be of six years, and they shall serve only one term.
Serving the public by elected office was never intended to provide life-long careers replete with retirement pensions, and, aside from turning to God as a nation, the only hope and change for our future is in these things. Here's to the FairTax, Jessica, and to the assurance that it will work--Constitutional term limits!
Peace,
Rob Thompson
Well, today I received a letter from Jessica. Jessica, who introduced herself as "an Obama state field coordinator", works for FairTax.org, and her letter was crafted to reflect the notion that Democrats and Republicans could/should unite under the fair tax system. In the interest of space and time I won't re-print her letter here. You'll need to take my word on this (unless you also received a letter from Jessica), but the only time that she sounded like a Democrat was in the closing paragraph where she asked for a donation. I decided to use my second-grade friendly letter writing skills to respond in a friendly manner. Here's what I emailed:
Dear Jessica,
You don't seem like a Democrat to me (certainly not an obama field organizer) when you recognize that lower taxes boost job creation and that a system like the fair tax is more fiscally responsible, but it troubles me that you can be a supporter of the Usurpent while supporting a rational, logical, and fair idea such as the fair tax. I'm glad you favor the fair tax, and I encourage you to continue reading about other similarly conservative principled ideas. I also thank you for working for FairTax--you're a good citizen!
Being a good citizen, however, entails many things, not the least of which is consistency. The fair tax, obviously, is fair to all of us, yet inflicting government control and oppression through the Usurpent's programs such as the propping up of financial institutions, the hostile takeover of two of our auto manufacturers, constant apologies to foreign leaders for unfounded U.S. foreign policy actions, coersion, bribery, and lies in an effort to provide socialized health care, abortion rights, homosexual marriage, and reckless and irresponsible budget proposals are not fair to anyone.
I preach the gospel of fair tax wherever I go, but the truth of the matter is that, unless our leaders reign in spending, the fair tax will fail. recognizing this, then, two things must happen: 1) anyone who has served longer than six years in office must be voted out, and 2) the constitution must be amended to require term limits as follows: a) senators may serve only one term, and b) representatives' term shall be of six years, and they shall serve only one term.
Serving the public by elected office was never intended to provide life-long careers replete with retirement pensions, and, aside from turning to God as a nation, the only hope and change for our future is in these things. Here's to the FairTax, Jessica, and to the assurance that it will work--Constitutional term limits!
Peace,
Rob Thompson
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Herb
Yesterday, I was listening to a talk show on AM radio--you may have heard of it--The Rush Limbaugh Show. I don't listen to him or any others regularly for a variety of reasons, namely the inferior quality of reception, the annoying and repetitive advertisements, people calling in, and did I mention the annoying and repetitive advertisements?
Well, a man called in whose name is Herb. Herb is, I think, either 56 or 66 years old (I couldn't understand every word because of the low sonic quality), and he explained how he was just tired of how things were going in our country. It doesn't matter how old or young he is, though, because I could hear the weariness in his voice.
Granted, he'd been through some tough times, having to serve in the military during wartime, having to work two jobs, and then later, losing his wife to cancer. But he seemed to have rather rebounded from those things, and now he was being slowly worn down by the horrible efforts of the Usurpent and his Congress.
Listening to him speak, not being able to express himself because of the overwhelming amount of damage being done by policies that might possibly and permanently erode the American way of life, I felt my eyes well up and I wept. He was saying, or trying to say, what I have been feeling for months, and hanging on every word was his weariness along with my own and that was such a heavy feeling--one that I have never known.
These are sad times, especially when one adds in the recent terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Texas. But all of the evil acts committed by this administration and all those committed by terrorists should be enough to anger us as well. May this anger as well as the sadness move all of us who love the United States to action, and may God have mercy on us.
Well, a man called in whose name is Herb. Herb is, I think, either 56 or 66 years old (I couldn't understand every word because of the low sonic quality), and he explained how he was just tired of how things were going in our country. It doesn't matter how old or young he is, though, because I could hear the weariness in his voice.
Granted, he'd been through some tough times, having to serve in the military during wartime, having to work two jobs, and then later, losing his wife to cancer. But he seemed to have rather rebounded from those things, and now he was being slowly worn down by the horrible efforts of the Usurpent and his Congress.
Listening to him speak, not being able to express himself because of the overwhelming amount of damage being done by policies that might possibly and permanently erode the American way of life, I felt my eyes well up and I wept. He was saying, or trying to say, what I have been feeling for months, and hanging on every word was his weariness along with my own and that was such a heavy feeling--one that I have never known.
These are sad times, especially when one adds in the recent terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Texas. But all of the evil acts committed by this administration and all those committed by terrorists should be enough to anger us as well. May this anger as well as the sadness move all of us who love the United States to action, and may God have mercy on us.
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