Thursday, November 1, 2007

                                                       All Saints Day

     It's hard to be a saint.  Such sanctity requires loving and obeying The Programmer so completely that one must withdraw from self-interests.  But, once that's done, the person is authorized more direct access to Programming Assistance.  When a saint asks for help, a saint gets it. 

     The Programmer responds to saints the way He responded to Moses by parting the ocean, to Joshua by having the walls of Jericho fall down, and to the prophets by giving them knowledge of the future.

     All of us ask for Programming Assistance.  When we do so, we should remember the saints.  Not only did they have access to Programming Assistance while they were alive, but also, after they arrived in Heaven.

     Today, St. Anthony can intercede for us.  So can thousands of other saints.  Many of us have the name of a saint somewhere in our given or baptismal names.  That's always a good place to start. 

Monday, November 5, 2007

                                                             Voting

     Tomorrow is election day for many of us.  There are two kinds of candidates.  One promises to take more money from taxpayers to benefit constituents, and some promise to take less money from taxpayers. 

     Few, if any candidates, can be nominated on a tax-cutting platform.  Before any candidate can get Party approval, he must "progressive" enough to commit to maintain basic funding and necessary increases.  So, neither party is worth supporting.

     But, some candidates are better than others.  Ronald Reagan was actually better than Jimmy Carter.  It's rare that there's that much difference, so voting usually serves little purpose. 

     We would be better served if legislators were selected for one term by random drawings.  That would ensure that at more honest people got into office.  That's exactly why we will continue to have elections.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

                                              The Importance of Voting.

     In a small community, one knows many of the candidates and can appreciate the amount of vanity it takes to motivate most of them to run.   "I want to be more important." is the unspoken inspiration of many getting started in "public service".  "I want to keep being important and get myself some more money." is common among incumbents who've been exposed to the lucrative opportunities offered by every level of democratic government.

     The other day, four or five candidates for three County Commissioner slots appeared on a television "debate".  Each one of them agreed that complying with existing programs and state mandates took up over 90% of the county budget.  All agreed that there was really nothing that any of them could do but raise taxes and obey regulations imposed by higher levels of government.

     After describing the complete impossibility of making any significant governmental improvements, the four candidates spent ten or fifteen minutes talking about the importance of farmers' markets.  Then, they talked about how sad it was that so many farmers' markets had closed from lack of interest. 

     Their concern was so heartfelt that one could picture them rounding up recalcitrant farmers and herding them to the farmers' markets to keep them open.  Then, they talked about how farmers should sell their produce directly to grocery stores.  Then, they talked about how grocery stores should buy produce from local farmers. 

     All candidates agreed that "something should be done" to force "those grocery stores" to buy more from local farmers, who were described by the first candidate to speak on the subject as "especially worthwhile" citizens.  By the time the last candidate spoke, it was clear that "The farmers in this County are the finest, hardest-working, most noble human beings in the history of the human race." and that "No effort should be spared to help them in every possible way." 

     The final speech-in-praise-of-farmers was followed by the immediate nods of the other three candidates, who silently cursed themselves for not having glorified local farmers more extravagantly when it was their turn.  In a county with hundreds of thousands of people, there are only a few hundred working farms.   Those anxious to ally themselves with the "abused, taken-for-granted" farmers didn't care if there were only a dozen.  Each wanted all to know that those rustic tillers of the soil were "some of the most important people in the world".  One of the candidates actually had, at one time, been a farmer.  It's doubtful that the other three had ever spoken to a farmer.

     At the end of the debate, all the candidates agreed that no matter who won, taxes would go up, money would be wasted, and there would be no chance of meaningful improvement in anyone's lives, outside of the increased quantity of praise received by those involved in agriculture.

     But, all the candidates agreed  "It is wonderful to live in a democracy, where peoples' opinions matter."

     On election day, many of us voted.  It was our civic duty. 

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

                                            Did you vote yesterday?

     For the first time in decades, I did not vote on election day.  This morning's election returns showed that my vote would not have made any difference in any contest.  Frankly, I cannot think of any office in any election where my vote has made any difference.

     There were, to be sure, some pangs of guilt.  "What if so-and-so loses by one vote?  Won't you feel bad, then?" I asked myself.

     But, once again, no one I favored lost his election by one vote.

     In light of the time and energy involved in voting, It's surprising that environmentalists do not encourage people to stay home.  "Millions of gallons of precious gasoline would be saved if people would stop voting.  Since it is almost statistically impossible for your vote to make any difference, you should not engage in any futile activity that produces deadly greenhouse gases and leads to global warming.  Voting is giving into a form of vanity that makes people think they're more important than they really are."

                                Some elections are more important than others.

     Many Pennsylvania voters intended to vote "no" in a "cleansweep" campaign against retaining judges who had kept a large, and illegal, pay raise.  Nonetheless, all the judges who accepted the illegal pay raise were returned to office with very large majorities.

     My vote wouldn't have made any difference in any of those elections.   No one who was outraged by the judges' acceptance of what was widely believed to be illegal money had their votes mean anything, either.  They might have been better off staying home, where at least the number of more moral voters would have been a disguised threat.  By voting, those outraged by what they saw as legalized theft identified themselves as the tiny minority (35% of the 25% of voters who turned out = 9% of the electorate) that they are. 

     As belief in democracy wanes, voter turnout will continue to drop as more elections are controlled by large groups of special interests who increasingly overwhelm the polls.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

                                                The time to vote.

     Most voters are initially uncomfortable when given the opportunity to vote for meaningful change.  They don't want to be "radical", or "rock the boat".  The previous column mentioned Pennsylvania's "cleansweep" campaign to vote out all judges who accepted what was felt to be an illegal pay raise.

     About 9% of the voters in a low turn-out, off-year election did vote "no".  In a high turn-out, presidential election, twice as many voters would have voted.  That 9% who voted "no" would have been increased, as well, probably to 15-17%.

     That's where the idea of "grassroots" activity becomes especially meaningful.  If each voter in the 15% of "no" voters would only convince between three and four other people to vote "no", their "cleansweep" campaign would carry.

     A successful "grassroots" campaign would provide talking points to help that happen.  Each "no" voter can readily accept a goal of talking to six or eight other voters.  They only need to convince half of those voters that it's their "duty" to "send a message" because "that's the only way we can stand up for what's right". 

     A simple sentence with two or three talking points is all that's necessary to "send a message".

Friday, November 9, 2007

                                              Volcano vs. exhaust pipes.

     Right now, there's a huge volcano erupting in Indonesia.  It's spewing uncountable thousands of tons of pollutants into the air every hour. 

     Right now, there are several million cars on the road.  Their exhaust is all but invisible. 

     Which of the two threats to clean air are environmentalists legislating against?

     The one that's most easily taxable.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

                                                         Oh, the lies.

     As the funding opportunities that global warming provides become more obvious, the number people telling lies increases.  So does the number of lies.

     When people lie, they separate themselves from The Programmer Who programmed us with a certain appreciation for truth.  The same person who tells Global Warming Lies will prosecute an auto mechanic who falsifies a bill.  "He just plain lied to me!", he will say in outrage to all who will listen.

     Sometimes, at a meeting with other people making a living by telling lies about Global Warming, he will tell them of his unfortunate experience with a lying auto mechanic.  Every single person will sympathize with him.  "People just don't tell the truth any more.", they will agree amidst much head-shaking and nodding.

     Then, they will get down to the business of finding and using the most effective lies about the coming horrors of Global Warming.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

                                               War on taxpayers.

     Most human activities and needs are, or have been, taxed.  Salt used to be heavily taxed.  So did matches.  Now, taxation is focused on income, property, and purchases.  Earning a living, owning a home, and buying things are open, public activities from which revenue can easily be derived.

     Now, spending has swollen to the point that no more income can be drawn from those sources.  So, we are increasingly assaulted with "public investments".  Typical of these are "loans", tax-abatements, and incentives to favored businesses.  These "job creation" programs rarely create the jobs for which public money has been taken and spent, but do accomplish the mission of providing money to those whose only skills are making the necessary political connections to obtain it.

     We generally pay sales tax on electricity.  That's no longer providing enough revenue.  So, new, inefficient, and unproven sources of power are being funded.  The electricity provided by inexpensive nuclear reactors is ignored, and we are told "we need a broad base of energy sources".   

     That "broad base of energy sources " includes ethanol (it takes at least 1.5 gallons of diesel fuel to produce one gallon of ethanol), biomass (so inefficient that it's cost cannot be calculated accurately), wind (costing 20 times more than coal and nuclear power), hydrogen (which still takes more energy to produce than it makes) and solar (the collectors of which only work in some parts of the country and which require weekly cleaning).

     So, we are about to have billions of dollars taken from us and given to the poor, lost souls who don't mind lying to and stealing from their neighbors.

     Pray for them.  It's their only chance.

Monday, November 19, 2007

                                                The fuel of vanity.

     We see people running for political office with any number of grandiose notions.  "I want smaller government."  "I want to make sure the world is clean for our grandchildren."  "I think things need to be cleaned up."  "I'm going to stand up for the working people."  All of their claims can be said to begin with "I want" or "I think we need" or "I believe". 

     All begin with vanity.

     Each candidate is running against others who proclaim the very same ideals.  Most elections will be won by small percentages, less than 10% of the voters.

     Victory generally goes to the candidate with the most money.  That money comes from special interests.  The candidate who says, "I will not take money from special interests." is usually defeated by the candidate who takes that money.

     Special interests, after all, have the most to gain in an election.  And, they know that if their candidates don't get elected, that competing special interests may put them out of business.  So, the truly vain, who value getting elected more than they value truth, get money from special interests to tell people about how wonderful they are.

     There's a direct correlation between the number of times that voters hear a candidate is wonderful and how likely they are to vote for him.

     So, vanity, fueled by money, rules countries whose citizens truly believe they are "democratically elected". 

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

                      One of St. John's mysteries in Revelations: Nero, Galba, Otho?

     Many Romans believed that Nero did not die, but would reappear.  St. John implies that there is some mystery here, as well. 

     John 17:10 is one of the most interesting passages in the Bible, prefaced by:  ". . . . here there is need for cleverness, for a shrewd mind . . . 'The seven heads are also seven emperors.  Five of them have already gone, one is here now (Nero) and one is yet to come;  once here, he must stay for a short while.  The beast, who once was and now is not, is at the same time the eighth and one of the seven, and he is going to his destruction."

     Of the eight emperors, Nero was the "one who is here now".  The seventh emperor was Galba, who was followed by Otho, #8.  Then, #9 Vitellius.  Then, Vespasian, #10, who was followed by his sons, Titus and Domitian.

     We know that the beast "is at the same time the eighth and one of the seven".  Starting from the beginning, we have Julius Caesar, #1.  Then, Augustus.  Augustus's name before that was "Octavian", deriving from "eight", so we have to ask if he's the "eighth"?   He ruled during the period of Christ's birth.  Then, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian.

     Some do not count Julius Caesar as an emperor, but as the transition from Republic to Emperor.  If so, #1 is Octavian/Augustus; #2 is Tiberius; #3 is Caligula; #4 Claudius; #5, Nero;#6 Galba; #7 Otha; #8, Vitellius.

     So, either Otho or Vitellius is number 8, and, according to St. John, is the same as either Nero or Galba.

     On the other hand, a much longer period of time may be indicated.  There's at least one statue of Nero with an amazing resemblance to Bill Clinton, and Vespasian looks an awful lot like Lyndon Johnson.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

                                          Idol worshippers today.

     When separating intellectuals from pseudo-intellectuals, one question helps.  "Does Big Oil pay scientists to say that global warming isn't real?"

     The pseudo-intellectual, as carefully taught, will say "Yes!", and think that he has proven how intelligent he is. 

     Similarly, at a recent debate among Democratic presidential candidates, when one said, "We need energy diversity!", the audience applauded.  They were glad to know their candidate had learned his lines well and would replace cheap, clean nuclear power with vastly more expensive wind, solar, and bio-power that was repeatedly said to be "renewable".

     In actual fact, Big Oil does pay scientists.  Big Oil pays them to say that global warming is real.  Global Warming provides Big Oil with lots of excuses stop drilling more oil wells, thus making existing oil reserves more valuable.

     "Renewable" energy is hype and puff.  Wind power costs a dollar a KWH to generate, and only works when the wind is blowing, thereby requiring huge back-up systems that have to be kept running to make up for sudden drops in wind power.

     Solar power only works in places where there's lots of sun shining. 

     For the Catholic Fundamentalist, these large flocks of lies are more fun to watch than birds.  It's fun to see who believes them, and how they will persist in their beliefs in the face of reality.  They are no different than those who, in Old Testament times, made idols for themselves of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood.

     The Prophets endlessly reminded idol worshippers that the idol had to be fastened to the wall to stand up, and could not move by itself.  The idol worshippers of that time didn't care.  They had something to believe in, and preferred the lie of an idol to the demands of being better that were put upon them by the living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

     Today, that same God has told us to love our neighbor, which requires providing him with electricity and energy at a reasonable price.  The idol-worshippers latest idol is the concept that "climate must stay the same".  That false idol hurts their neighbor with higher costs and reduced energy availability.

Friday, November 23, 2007

                                        War against the middle class.

     Whittaker Chambers, Communist turned Christian, was very familiar with the Communist Party and with its supporters.  In one sentence, he summed up a great deal:  "In America, working people are Democrats, the middle class is Republican, and the rich are Communists."

     That may seem counter-intuitive, but a little reflection on rich people whose pictures often appear, locally in newspapers and magazines, nationally and globally on bigger media outlets, will show that many are the first and staunchest supporters of every "progressive" concern.

     Using "Global Warming" as an excuse, an attack has been made on the very thing that makes the middle class possible, electricity.  Before electricity, society was stratified between those who had servants, and those who did not. 

     The cheapest, cleanest, most reliable source of the electricity that freed a nation from much of its drudgery, nuclear power, is studiously ignored.

     Rather than providing Americans with plentiful, cheap power, we are directed toward the magic buzzwords of "sustainability" "renewable energy" and "energy diversity".  This allows vast sums of taxpayer money to be squandered on things that simply can't work while depriving us of the less expensive power that we all need.

     Why?  It appears that large power producers do not want competition.  They are using fear and bribes (usually in the form of "campaign contributions") to maintain their high-margin monopolies and driving their profits even higher by forcing a scarcity of electricity.

     In WWII, Britain had food rationing.  They didn't get rid of it until the mid nineteen-fifties.  Those who had the power to control the food supply simply didn't want to give their jobs or their power.

     The same mentality is working toward power rationing.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

                                     Leftist hatred # 5,280, plastic bags.

     When we had to bring home our groceries in paper bags, leaking fluids often caused the bottom of the bag to rip when it was lifted.

     A huge mess would usually result, often with broken glass, ruptured containers, and a lot of wasted time, money, and food.

     When ways to make cheaper bags out of plastic film were invented, they nearly eliminated the losses caused by paper bags.

     Plastic bags were also a lot easier to carry.  It's amazing how many can be carried in one hand while the other hand unlocks the door, pushes elevator buttons, opens refrigerator doors, or carries a baby.

     Plastic bags are cheaper, safer, and more convenient.  And, they keep food from spoiling, thereby making it safer.

     All good leftists hate plastic bags.  Endless legislation is proposed to outlaw them.  Cries are raised for "deposits" to be charged.  Plastic bags are called names.  "Wasteful", "Irresponsible".  "Dangerous to animals who eat them." 

     People who prefer to use plastic bags rather that the less safe paper bags have actually been insulted and shunned in grocery stores.

     More legislation attempts to mandate "recyclable" bags occur every year. 

     Many leftists will, at the drop of a hat, go into impassioned speeches about the "dangers" of plastic bags.  Googling "plastic bag dangers", one finds 1, 880,000 entries!

     One doubts that leftists will ever run out of things to hate.

Monday, November 26, 2007

                                                Why do they hate?

     When listening to the hatred that many people have towards, for instance, President Bush, one wonders where it comes from.

     Going on leftist web sites is like swimming in hate.  Everything is hated.  Babies.  Children.  Old people.  Rich people.  Poor people who live in trailors.  Billionaires who live in mansions.  White people.  SUVs.  High salaries.  Low salaries.  Selfishness.  Tithing.  Trucks.  Cars.  Airplanes.  Ships.  Plumbing.  Wells.  Septic tanks.  Nuclear power.  Coal power.  Human activities that make changes.  Things not changing fast enough.  Insufficient tax rates.   Republicans.  Insufficiently liberal Democrats.  Catholics.  Baptists.  Jews.  Fertilizer.  Mines.  Roads.  Frozen food.  Canned food.  Bottled water.

     Enumerating the things they hate is a great help, because it shows us the simple mental trick that replaces actual thinking:

     First, they identify any thing, process, or person that/who is, or is not, making a change.  Then, they complain about what they have identified and the possible consequences that may come from that change or lack of change.  The complaints quickly pile up into dislike, then hatred, for the thing, person, or process they have defined.  The more progressive among them quickly find things that connect to the latest hate, and quickly come to hate them, too.

     Those who refuse to share their hatreds are "unenlightened", "primitive", "superstitious", "credulous fools", "patsies", "in the pay of big oil", or "ignorant".  They do a lot of ranting.

     Many of them lack the intellectual ability to do anything on their own.  Since they cannot do anything, they have decided to hate those of their neighbors who can.  "Hatred", Lenin said, "is the essence of Communism."

     Since we don't do battle with them, but with the spiritual powers who work to destroy their eternal souls, we have to pray that they will learn to love their neighbors.  That's easier to do, once they understand that the God Who programmed them loves them.

     And, we have to love these silly, bitter people.  Loving them is very difficult.  But, that's one of our jobs.  It's one we have to do well. 

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

                                Global warming, prelude to higher taxes.

     Those dependent on taxes love global warming.  It provides endless opportunities to take money from neighbors to meet goals that can't be met.  Since weather is never perfect, trying to make it so will take trillions of dollars, and the cunning have gotten in on the ground floor.

     The only people who think global warming is worrisome are small, easily brain-washed children and the least intelligent of adults.  Most of us can see the graphs showing solar output, compare them with graphs that show temperature changes, and see the direct connection.

     But, there's never an abundance of tax money in truth, so great lies are told.  Since democracies are run by billionaires who want more, we are regaled with lies about every possible, and profitable, alarm.  Few distortions are as desperate, or as magnificently twisted, as the global warming lies.

     Now, it appears that there has been global cooling for several years, reflecting reductions in solar output. 

     So, they are counter-attacking reality on two fronts.  First, they are moving quickly to get profitable taxes and structures in place to profit from citizen activity before belief in global warming is more widely perceived as a sure sign of idiocy.  Second, they are changing the great global warming fear into the "bigger problem of climate change".

     That way, they can make money if the sun shines more, or if it shines less. 

     Pray for these pitiful liars.  Their lies are so complex, and they are so dependent upon them, that it is hard for them to break free to the Truth beyond.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

                                                  Fright Factories.

     Many people don't want a lot to do.  But, they want a good income.  Some have found that working for various tax-supported agencies is vastly easier, and much more lucrative, than private sector work.  But, sometimes there's a catch.  They have to appear to be doing something useful, even if it's something as ridiculous as the vast Department of Agriculture coming up with a "food pyramid" after a couple of decades of "hard work".

     There are very real few problems left to solve.  So, successful agencies turn themselves into "problem factories".  They seek endlessly for new problems, alarms, frights, fears, and problems.  Then, they breathlessly announce, "We are all going to die (young, painfully, needlessly) if we don't spend a lot of money doing SOMETHING ABOUT WHAT WE'VE FOUND!  Our agency is on top of the problem, but we need more funding to protect all of us, especially the (children, senior citizens, animals, plants, chemical composition of the atmosphere, our way of life, the food supply, and so on) from this Frightening Problem. "

     There are always fiscal fears.  Financial Fright Factories magnify the problems of (Sub-prime loans, balances of payment, trade deficits, energy prices, food costs, etc,) and invent lots of REALLY SCARY problems "that will hurt working families, retirees, students, etc". 

     It's not just the tax-supported agencies that have frantic fright factories working full-tilt.  The media needs lots of scares, too.  Working hand in glove with tax-supported fright factories, they help, and are helped by, cranking out enough worries for every simpleton still paying attention.

     With automation and imports, there are simply not enough production jobs.  Just as one or two farmers now do what ninety five farmers used to do, so manufacturing is putting out more products with fewer people.

     That's why scares and alarms are so popular.  They give a lot of people who don't want real jobs paying what their skills are worth endless opportunities to get higher paying jobs doing something worthless.

     They just have to lie and exaggerate a lot.  Not a good way to prepare for a joyous eternity, but it's their choice to get more for participating in lies and exaggerations rather than spending their lives doing useful work.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

        There are few things as complicated as the Catholic Church.  Simplifying helps.

     As we explore the concept that "God can program in three dimensions", and understand that He programmed Angels to act as sub-programmers, the history recorded in the Bible, if it does not become more believable, does become less unbelievable.

     That may help a few people overcome their reactions to "religion".  The anti-religious groups are growing in numbers and power.  And, it's understandable how so many people could be moved toward hostility towards religion in general and Christianity in particular.

     All our lives, we've heard religion attacked at every level.  Intellectuals think Christianity is a "primitive superstition".  Materialists think Christianity "gets in the way".  The lustful think that "Christianity keeps us from fulfilling ourselves."  Historians, blind to Mao, Stalin, and abortuaries, insist that "Christianity has caused more murders than any other power on earth."

     Such beliefs are becoming more and more of a requirement for high-paying jobs, particularly in the tax-supported agencies.  As a result, we have to focus on making what we can out of comparative, and increasing, poverty.

     Believers are routinely denied employment in many areas.  We will have to either compromise our beliefs, or learn to do with less.  The lessons of the Saints are instructive.  They saw how liberating poverty was. 

     They were right.

Friday, November 30, 2007

                         Overpopulation.   The perennially popular problem.

     As one becomes more aware of evil, the importance of a few, basic lies becomes obvious.  At the anit-life base of environmental thinking, "There are too many people." comes up frequently, in many different ways.   

     When attempts are made to eliminate deaths by using DDT to combat malaria, we hear "There are too many people.  If we get rid of malaria, there will be even more people.  The earth cannot sustain them." from those who don't want cheap, proven DDT to be used to actually solve the problem, as it had in the past.

     Selfishness is one component of the "There are too many people." mindset.  Since they kill others, even their own children, but not themselves, vanity is also involved in their hateful conclusions about the worth of their neighbors' lives.

     God, of course, told us "Love your neighbor".  Anyone who would let their neighbor suffer and die from malaria for pseudo-scientific reasons does not love any of their neighbors, even those next door.

     Generally, people who do not love have never been loved.  If we are to obey another command, "Love your enemy.", we are in for some hard, dirty work.  Telling them the truth often prompts extreme reactions, as the hatred simmering just beneath the surface of their twisted, bitter souls bursts out. 

     Loving them enough to tell them the truth about almost anything usually results in insults, and, if we do a good job, jail or death.