Here’s your “Change” you can believe in.

You voted for him. Now good luck. Keep your obama bumper sticker on your car so I know who fell for the "change" bullshit line and who to blame for the mess my grandkids will have to pay for.

 

"I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less..."

-- Denver

Barak Obama AUGUST 28, 2008

 

"I'll pay for every part of this job-creation agenda by ending this war in Iraq that's costing us billions, closing tax loopholes for corporations, putting a price on carbon pollution, and ending George Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans."

-- Lorain, Ohio

FEBRUARY 24, 2008

 

"Barack Obama is committed to returning earmarks to less than $7.8 billion a year, the level they were at before 1994."

-- Obama's "The Change We Need In Washington"

 

"Obama will reinstate pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budget rules, so that new spending or tax cuts are paid for by spending cuts or new revenue elsewhere."

-- Obama's Blueprint for Change

 

"I will always be a strong advocate for a market that is free and open."

-- New York City

SEPTEMBER 17, 2007

 

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."

 

$1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years

$50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts

$400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects

$650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons

mass transit ($6 billion) When the spending spree is over, municipalities will be saddled with subsidizing the future budget shortfalls through increased taxes. No public transportation system has ever had a balanced budget.

$600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars. I guess those 12-20000 car sales will stimulate the automakers economy. But if that is economic stimulus, That banks have a few houses you can have for a song Mr. Obama.

The Smithsonian is targeted to receive $150 million.

There's $81 billion for Medicaid, $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits, $20 billion for food stamps, and $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax. Please tell me how this encourages Americans to go back to work.

$54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as "ineffective" or unable to pass basic financial audits. These include the Economic Development Administration, the Small Business Administration, the 10 federal job training programs, and many more.

education, which would get $66 billion more. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago

Our New President is Already Hard at Work…

…Promoting the massacre of countless babies on a global scale. There has been a stipulation since Reagan that nongovernment agencies receiving government money can't conduct or promote abortions. Every democrat has repealed the order and every republican has reenacted it saving thousands of lives. You can read the entire order form your commander in chief below:

MEMORANDUM FOR

THE SECRETARY OF STATE THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

SUBJECT: Mexico City Policy and Assistance for Voluntary Population Planning

The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b(f)(1)), prohibits nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that receive Federal funds from using those funds "to pay for the performance of abortions as a method of family planning, or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions."  The August 1984 announcement by President Reagan of what has become known as the "Mexico City Policy" directed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand this limitation and withhold USAID funds from NGOs that use non-USAID funds to engage in a wide range of activities, including providing advice, counseling, or information regarding abortion, or lobbying a foreign government to legalize or make abortion available.  The Mexico City Policy was in effect from 1985 until 1993, when it was rescinded by President Clinton.  President George W. Bush reinstated the policy in 2001, implementing it through conditions in USAID grant awards, and subsequently extended the policy to "voluntary population planning" assistance provided by the Department of State.

These excessively broad conditions on grants and assistance awards are unwarranted.  Moreover, they have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning programs in foreign nations.  Accordingly, I hereby revoke the Presidential memorandum of January 22, 2001, for the Administrator of USAID (Restoration of the Mexico City Policy), the Presidential memorandum of March 28, 2001, for the Administrator of USAID (Restoration of the Mexico City Policy), and the Presidential memorandum of August 29, 2003, for the Secretary of State (Assistance for Voluntary Population Planning).  In addition, I direct the Secretary of State and the Administrator of USAID to take the following actions with respect to conditions in voluntary population planning assistance and USAID grants that were imposed pursuant to either the 2001 or 2003 memoranda and that are not required by the Foreign Assistance Act or any other law:  (1) immediately waive such conditions in any current grants, and (2) notify current grantees, as soon as possible, that these conditions have been waived.  I further direct that the Department of State and USAID immediately cease imposing these conditions in any future grants.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

The Secretary of State is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

THE WHITE HOUSE, January 23, 2009.

Worshipping Christ

1/4/2009

In recent discussions with a Jehovah's Witness, the subject of the deity of Christ has continued to be the focus. JWs are careful not to admit to worshipping Jesus. In their belief system, Jesus was the first creation of God, not God himself. According to them, as God's creation, he is not to be worshipped. Of course, I and most of the conscious Christian community emphatically disagree. What follows is my proof texts. In an effort to avoid a circular argument of semantics, I have chosen not to use any of the over 200 references to Christ as Lord unless they are confirmed by OT accounts. This way we don't get entangled in the interpretation of the word Lord. But when it comes to worship, there can be no dispute. God is very clear in Exodus when He says " Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;" Therefore, if Jesus is not God, but is in heaven above and we bow down to him, we have clearly broken this command. However, if Jesus is God, then worshipping Him should be part of our natural expression of belief.

SO the logic goes like this. If the Bible tells us to worship Jesus

    And if the Bible is the Word of God

        Then Jesus must be God

Otherwise, we are left with two choices. Either God's word is flawed in which case God is flawed. The Bible is the biggest hoax in the history of man and it never was God's Word and therefore is null and void. Or finally, Jesus is God and meant to be worshipped.

1. Matthew 2:2 the Magi came to worship Jesus when he was born. While this hardly proof that Christ is God, it is the beginning of a series of passages that display man worshipping Jesus in God's inspired Word (2Tim. 3:16) without any indication that this practice is improper. In fact, they clearly brought gifts in an act of worship Mat. 2:11.
   
2. Herod's deception- In Matthew 2, Herod attempts to deceive the Magi into reporting to him the location of Jesus so that he may kill the newborn. In his deception he told the Magi that he wanted to worship Christ. No king would risk being accused of blasphemy if worship of the Christ wasn't acceptable.
   
3. Jesus says in John 5 that "He who does not honor the Son, does not honor the father." That reference in verse 23 doesn't use the word worship. But if God "the father" is the only God, why would he permit honoring anyone but himself unless he is both the father and the son. What other passage can be found in God's word where man is asked to honor an angel?
   
4. Jesus is not an angel- Perhaps the most compelling argument comes at the beginning of the letter to the Hebrews which in itself is significant. Because the Jews would be the first ones to cry "foul" if someone tried to alter the accepted order of worship, what it said to them directly falls under extraordinary scrutiny. It is one thing to preach the good news to a Corinthian pagan and far another to preach Jesus to the Jews. But look at all of chapter one. Clearly, God's Word does not declare that Jesus is the first angel.
   
   1. v.3 "the son is the radiance of God's glory."
      
   2. V. 5 "for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son; today I have become your father. This is a rhetorical statement.
      
   3. V. 6b. Let all God's angels worship him. " Here we have angels worshipping Jesus. Why would God allow worship to anything that was not God?
      
   4. V.8 "But about the Son, he says, "Your throne, oh God, will last for ever and ever,…" The JW version has been altered to "But with reference to the Son: "God is your throne forever and ever," How would God be a throne. The throne is subject to the ruler.
      
   5. V. 10 "In the beginning, Oh Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands." This is God referring to Jesus using a reference to Psalm 102:24,25 "I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years [are] throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens [are] the work of thy hands. One says the Lord laid the foundations of the earth, the other God. The only way to reconcile this is that they are one and the same. Unless you take the long road by trying to explain that God is taking credit for Jesus work in the Psalms. Why would he do that? Here's the JW versions
      

      v. 10 NWT And: "You at [the] beginning, O Lord, laid the foundations of the earth itself, and the heavens are [the] works of your hands
      

   PSA 102:24.25 NWT I proceeded to say: "O my God, Do not take me off at the half of my days; Your years are throughout all generations.
   25
   Long ago you laid the foundations of the earth itself,
   And the heavens are the work of your hands. Even the JW version declares that Jesus is God. I'm sure this will be corrected in future versions.
   

   1. Any attempt to misinterpret v. 9 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory…" to mean that Jesus was created misses the point that. This verse is clearly indicating that Jesus left the glory of heaven to put on flesh to pay the price for our sins. In doing so, He humbled himself on our behalf.
      
   2. A glimpse of heaven- In Revelation chapter 4 we see John getting the lay of the land of heaven. In it, there is a throne with a figure seated on it. Around it are 24 other thrones (elders), four living creatures also were around the throne. These creatures worship the figure on the throne without ceasing (v. 8,9). The elders also worship the figure. Next in chapter five there is a scroll that cannot be opened. And then we see the Lamb of God "in the midst" ) of the throne and He is the only one who can open the scroll. Not only that but this lamb had seven horns (the number of completion) representing the seven spirits of God. Now in verse 8 after the Lamb had taken the scroll from the right hand of God, the elders and creatures worshipped the Lamb. Why would God allow worship to anything that wasn't God? Right after that countless angels worshipped Christ v.11. If there is any doubt look at the praise they say in v. 13 "to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, [be] unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. Clearly, John was meant to understand that the elders and creatures were worshipping and giving praise to God and the lamb!
      
   3. Rev. ch 7 verse nine has the "great multitude worshipping the one on the throne and the Lamb.
      
   4. Rev. 14:7 an angel commands those who live on the earth"…worship him wh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and the springs of water.
      
   5. Rev. 20:6 claims that those who are resurrected in the first resurrection will be priests of God and of Christ. Either Christ is a second god or he is God.
      
   6. Rev. 21:22 describes the millennial city as having no temple. God and the Lamb are its temple. Again, Jesus is either a god or God.
      
   7. Rev. 21:23 the light of the city is from God AND the Lamb. How can that be unless they are one.
      
   8. Rev. 22:1 the river of the water of life flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the entire book of Revelation, the throne is only discussed in two contexts: the throne of God and the twenty four thrones of the elders surrounding the throne of God. Jesus has to be on God's throne.
      
   9. Rev. 22:3 and 4 Look at the wording of this verse: And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name [shall be] in their foreheads. God and the Lamb are referred to in the singular. In the beginning of Genesis, God refers to himself as we indicating his triune state. At the other end in revelation, John refers to God and Jesus as the personal pronoun he indicating exactly who makes up the Godhead.
      
   10. Rev. 22:12-16 is the spoken word of Jesus. He tells us so in verse 16. He calls himself the Alpha and the Omega. If there is any argument left as to whether Jesus sits on the throne, look back at 21:5,6. Notice the first person there when the speaker says "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." SO we have Jesus calling himself the Alpha and Omega and the one sitting on the throne calling himself the Alpha and Omega. Either Jesus is committing the same sin as Satan by proclaiming to be first or he is God.
       
   11. Matthew 28:9 the women grabbed Jesus feet and worshipped him. Jesus made no mention not to. He only told them not to be afraid.
       
   12. Matthew 28:17 when the disciples saw Jesus, they worshipped him. Jesus did not stop them. JW trades the word worship for obesience whenever they don't want to discuss Jesus being worshipped. This word obesience (worship) comes from the greek word prŏscuněō(Strong's 4352). The word is used 59 times. When it is used to describe worshiping God or something other than Jesus (idols, the beast, satan), the JW Bible translates the word "Worship"
       

Mat. 4:9	1Cor. 14:25	Rev. 14:7	John 4:22	Rev. 9:20	Rev. 19:4	Acts 8:27
Mat. 4:10	Hebrews 11:21	Rev. 14:9	John 4:23	Rev. 11:1	Rev. 19:10	Acts 24:11
Luke 4:8	Rev. 4:10	Rev. 14:11	John 4:24	Rev. 11:16	Rev. 19:20	Rev. 13:12
John 4:20	Rev. 5:14	Rev. 15:4	John 12:20	Rev. 13:4	Rev. 20:4	Rev. 13:15
John 4:21	Rev. 7:11	Rev. 16:2	Acts 7:43	Rev. 13:8	Rev. 22:8	Rev. 22:9

 

Curiously, EVERY TIME the exact same Greek word is used to describe worshiping Jesus, the JW Bible translates the word "do obesience".

Mat. 2:2	Mat. 20:20	Mat. 9:18	Mark 15:19
Mat. 2:8	Mat. 28:9	Mat. 14:33	Luke 24:52
Mat. 2:11	Mat. 28:17	Mat. 15:25	John 9:38
Mat. 8:2	Mark 5:6	Mat. 18:26	Acts 10:25
		Rev. 3:9	Hebrews 1:6

This cannot possibly be determined to be a matter of grammatical interpretation. This is a systematic rewriting of the scriptures not for the sake of accuracy. If it were, we would see worship to God sometimes being translated "obesience" and worship to Jesus sometimes translated "worship."

Thanks

Dear Lord:

I want to take a minute to praise you for all that I am blessed with. First, my wife and my best friend. Thank you for her caring heart. For her gentle touch. Thank you that you have given me someone who supports me, and loves me even though I am as unlovely as can be. Life without her is unimaginable. She personifies many great things about you. She is forgiving. She is patient, She is kind.

Thank you for my oldest daughter. It honors me that she wants to be like me. It is perhaps the most uplifting compliment I could receive. She is funny. She is fruity. She is beautiful and smart. She is caring and gentle and kind to others when they may not even notice. She harbors no malice.

Thank you for my second born. Her beauty is in her bliss. Teach me, Lord through her bliss how to unplug and just be. She befriends anyone.

Thank you for my third born. She is feisty and full of life. She is energetic, passionate and a treasure to be with, even when she is angry. I pray that you would open her eyes to more of the veauty in life and less of the injustice.

Thank you for my youngest girl. She is so overflowing with love she is like a new puppy bouncing around ready to love on anyone who will make eye contact. She brings vibrancy to this home.

Thank you for the opportunity to finish school. I have learned so much even though I don't want to admit it.

Thank you for each new day and my less than perfect heart as a reminder that each one is a gift.

Same Glass, Two Sides

When asked how many sides a circle has, a concrete thinker would say that is has none. An abstract thinker would say "two, an inside and an outside." What about a glass. Unlike the circle, it definitely has a top and a bottom, and an inside and an outside. But the abstract thinker can also apply the half full, half empty cliché and reason that the person observing the glass can see one side or the other. Therefore, it must have those two sides as well. I kind of feel like that glass today.

I have been working since May at a new job. The good news is that I have been working since May. As far as self-esteem goes, it is far better to be employed. The hours are limited. So I only need to work forty-three hours each week. This allows ample time to pursue that elusive degree that is hindering my upward mobility. The bad news is that the pay is less than half of what I used to make. When transferring to another job, there is probably going to be a depreciation in value. The corollary to that is that the work is half as challenging. Subsequently, the sense of purpose one would hope to achieve by gaining employment has been marginalized significantly. I went from organizing financing, project management, and vendor relations with over 200 vendors to cutting plywood, managing equipment maintenance and doing quality inspections. I went from a self managed position to working for a micromanager who changes his mind just to sound important. As a final downer, I must seek alternative employment, if at all, in the Charlotte area. Moving to another town would mean

But I encourage myself with the knowledge that as of December 2009, I will have earned that degree. That is my inspiration. It has to be. With a full time job and three classes, there is no time for anything else.

Revelation

6/7/08

Twice in my life I have had visions. Dreams if you will. But dreamsso real, so intense that you never forget them. They are not so much about what happens as they are about what I felt. The first one happened in 1991. I had a dream where I experienced true love for the first time. It was the most incredible feeling of self purpose I had ever felt. Weeks later a girl I had known in recent years called out of the blue. Three years later we were married. I now experience that bond of love every day.

The second vision came just lat Friday. It was just as intense. Understand that it cannot be put into words. That is part of the miracle of this vision. Its power transcends words. I will do my best. But it is important that these words are only the barest beginning of the feeling I experienced. Like explaining fireworks to the blind or the subtle nuances of Vivaldi to the deaf, I feel inadequate to express this vision.

First I heard cries from outside the house. That was what made me coming outside in the first place. As I opened the front door, there before me in the distance on the prairie was what looked like a storm, but different. It was orange in color as if the sun were somehow inside the tempest. The wind spun and whirled like a gigantic tornado that spanned the entire western horizon from North to South. As I gaped at this phenomenon stupified, several things washed over me in rapid succession. First, it was clear that there was no escape from this storm. It was just too big. There was no time to mobilize. It was coming too fast! It would devour the house and all of us in minutes, maybe seconds. Already it was growing closer. How could something so enormous move so quickly! Then I tried to be practical and figure out what to do. As if my wife could read my mind, I heard her behind me shouting "Get to a room closest to the center of the house under the stairs." I remember thinking "That might possibly be some help in a tornado. But this is no tornado." Then I thought about the kids. As I rushed inside, I managed to find three of them and get the five of us under the stairs. As I stepped out to look for the fourth, it was too late. The storm was already bearing down on the house. I braced myself for the impact, expecting to see the house torn to shreds before my eyes.

Suddenly, all was silent. The "storm" was gone and I was being lifted upside down into the air, lifted not by the wind, but by something much more intentional. I realized as I was being lifted that life as I knew it was gone forever. There was no going back. There would be no more days, no more nights, no more struggles, no more of anything in this old life. Much like the intense awareness that accompanies a skydiver as he begins to fall knowing that absolutely nothing in the universe can get him back to the perceived safety of that plane, I knew that life was over. Yet strangely there was no remorse. For as these thoughts and many others coursed through my body they added layer after layer of intensity to the experience. As a matter of fact, it was the intensity of the experience that put into perspective just how docile life was even with the events that seemed both tragic and euphoric over the years. High points like our wedding, children's births, graduations and many firsts all seemed like dim shadows compared to what I was feeling right now. It was as if all that was just a precursor.

    I thought about my fourth daughter that could not be found, and was immediately comforted. It was as if I knew she was going to be ok.

    I thought about the rest of my family. I couldn't see them near me. I was too disoriented rising so quickly upside down. But I was once again immediately comforted.

    I thought about how much of my life was spent doing useless things.

Then far in front of me the brightness of day became far more intense. I quickly became aware that I was entering the presence of God. It's not that it was so much something to be seen as it was definitely something to be felt. As I realized this, fear and awe mixed with a supernatural love erupted inside me as I struggled to grasp the reality of coming close to the presence of Almighty God. It was the most narcotic, euphoric, amazing, pure overwhelming feeling possible. It was beyond description, beyond imagination, far beyond words. I felt helpless and unworthy. An overwhelming desire to praise God welled up inside of me. I desperately attempted to sing words of praise to God. It was the only thing I wanted to do. Nothing else in the past mattered. How I got here didn't matter. All that mattered was that I was in the presence of this Creator that was the embodiment of love and power and I needed to praise Him. As I opened my mouth, I could not get the words out. It was as if I was both terrified and incapable of finding words worthy of His majesty.

Quickly I began to be reminded of scripture and it was as if seeing them with eyes for the first time.

"pray without ceasing". Of course! With this Almighty as my Creator loving me with an intensity infinitely greater than any other relationship ever experienced, why would I ever consider not praying continuously? Why would I not commune with Him every possible free waking moment?

"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed…" It was suddenly so clear what Jesus was trying to say. The source of your power is merely to love and recognize the love and power of your beloved creator. He would do anything for you in love, anything. Just ask and trust Him. Trust him like I was trusting Him right now upside down countless miles above my home without any logical explanation for still being alive, yet here I was. It was no wonder so many of my prayers had been answered. They were mere trifles compared to what He could and would have done for me had I asked in love.

"Love your neighbor" It was all becoming so black and white. There is love. And there is everything else. We all have loved each other so little in comparison to what was designed. It makes sense though. Since we don't get to truly experience the love of God in its ultimate purity while we are on this planet, we are left with doing the best we can. But it was still so clear how short we fall of the mark.

I thought of the thousands of martyrs and how God must have given them a glimpse of this vision amidst their trial to sustain them. It was suddenly clear why they had endured so much without denying Christ's love. I would do anything for God at that moment. His love was so worth any mere pain, humiliation or torture mere man could dish out until my body was ruined and I could return to God's presence.

Then slowly, I could feel a gulf developing between us. Afraid of losing Him, I groaned unable to form words. My Savior understood. I felt reassured that this was ok, that I wasn't finished. I was given this gift that I might know how much God truly does love me. I was to take this experience and use it as a benchmark to love others. To understand that anyone who was hating, or lonely, or hurting was just in need of the kind of unconditional love God gives us all for the asking. I could see so clearly that my only purpose in life was to love others and share God's love with them.

As I began to awake, I desperately tried to return to that place but it was no use. I was back in the world I knew all too well. But something was different. Any doubt about God's existence, about his love, about His word, about salvation through Christ was wiped away. Our Father in Heaven was truly preparing a place for us. Now I am left in a temporal world, longing to return to my Savior, longing to do what pleases him, yet stuck in a lifetime of schemas that shape an existence that is a barely recognizable dilution of God's plan. But today is a new day.

Fire and Rain

My best friend was killed in a senseless accident six days ago. He was leaning on the railing of his balcony when it gave way. He fell to the concrete below and suffered irreparable head trauma. Now we are left with putting our lives back together. I have been to funerals before, aunts, grandparents. The only other death I can ever remember hurting close to this was my grandmother. I spent every weekend with her growing up. But with her, she had been so ravaged by cancer that I was grateful to know she was finally out of pain and at rest. But with Wade, he was quietly talking to his wife one moment and gone the next. No one was the least prepared for this. It hurts more than I thought possible. My heart aches for Lisa, his wife and his two children Erin and Robert. My heart aches for his friends who will miss him so much. And my heart aches selfishly for me and my family. Wade was a brother and a friend. I always knew that he would be there and now he won't. I miss him terribly. What else can I say.