Handicapping the Presidential Horserace

I'm bothered. There is a divide I don't like to see between right wing religionists and a right wing secular humanist (atheism) wing.That divide is deep and it is driven by fear of a "Christian" becoming president and leading by the principles of Faith and the word of God. Horrors.

To the secular atheists Romney and Huckabee are as frightening as they are reassuring to people like me.That only leaves Thompson McCain and Giuliani.

Here's the handicap on the horse race as I see it:

Clinton beats Thompson, Giuliani and Romney but loses to Huckabee or McCain

Edwards Beats Thompson and McCain but loses to Giuliani, Romney and Huckabee, therefore he's dead meat.

Obama Beats Huckabee, McCain, Thompson, toss up with Romney and loses to Giuliani.

It has to do with the center vote. Who gets the center and attracts the attention of the middle on the other side will win.

The polarization against Hillary is so powerful on the right and some of the middle and even some of the left, Huckabee wins as a moderate when you count the "hold your nose vote".

The Edwards fiasco is such that we can only thank him for the barrel he provided in which to shoot the fish he really is. He has zero chance of winning, his negatives in the middle and right are huge and tepid support from the left except for the fringe left which reaches for him out of desperation. He can join Fred Thompson in the Toaster.

OBAMA is the wild card. He gets all the left, Much of the middle and some of the value voter right wing therefore beating everyone handily; except Giuliani. Giuliani can beat him on national defense and terrorism. Particularly if there is a rising threat somewhere. Or one can be created. Obama's weakness on defense is a huge heel of Achilles for his winning outright. On the other hand Giuliani is cursing that darn surge thingy that worked in Iraq. I know you on the left haven't noticed that it worked because as soon as reports started coming in that it did the MSM went silent.

Troops can come home, Iraq becomes peaceful, maybe Iran calms down and oil prices drop like they have already begun precipitously to do. Bad news for Rudy, good for Obama. "Darn That GWB", I can hear Rudy clear over here.

The circus has only begun, I just hate that as a primary voter I get no primary vote in Illinois. Rumor has it Illinois is an actual state with actual voters who actually have opinions. Except when it comes to Presidential Nominee Choice. The whole dog and pony show is all over by the time they get to us. Oh, to be from Iowa and New Hampshire. Well, not really.

So, with cigar firmly clenched in teeth and gray fedora on my head I'm here to sell my "Tip Sheet" on the horse race as I see it at this point.

What think ye?

IF you are a good handicapper, how do you handicap this race?

My list from as an apolitical viewpoint as I know how to be are:

Clinton, Huckabee, Gulliani, Romney, Obama and no one else. I think any ONE of those 5 would do OK for different reasons as President of the USA. It's going to be one of them. Not the same reasons why but they all have compelling reasons for the American people to elect them.

I think there are compelling reasons NOT to elect the others: Ron Paul (crazy tinfoil hat type), McCain (beginning to dodder and doesn't own a political compass), Edwards (the slimeball factor), Thompson (who is doddering already).

And there are a couple who might have made a good president but have zero chance.
Biden, Hunter

You goes with what you gets. We ain't getting what I hoped.

All bets are off however if from the left or the right any sort of 3rd party challenge is made. Either way it's a guarantee of victory for the other side. Think Nader and Perot. We wouldn't have had Clinton or GWB as Presidents without them. That would be variously good/bad news for all and some of us as it was in the past.

Watching Oil and Houses Drop in Price

Trees have tops. The cure for high prices is high prices. All markets correct.

These truths are absolute. Business and economic systems are cyclical.

I remember growing up people saying, "Invest in real estate, they ain't making any more" and the one I never understood, "Real estate always holds it value and goes up". Wait, I'm 60 years old and have seen 5, count em, 5 big real estate value collapses. 1958, 1967, 1984, 1994 and this one.

This kind of thinking makes poor fools of all of us.

I had a friend call me the other day who was talking about buying a piece of real estate at about 80% of it's appraised value. Instant Equity he said.

NOT EXACTLY. Real estate is going to be flat to drifting lower for 20 months or better.

Now is a good time to rent if you don't already own. Then in 25 months you can buy. Read this.

As Robert Kiyosaki said in Rich Dad Poor Dad, "Your home is never an investment, it's an expense". Those words are coming more and more true in this day.

And oil is headed down unless we or someone bombs Iran.

Last night Bruce Foster prophesied over me that people who have been unwilling to hear the leading of the spirit through my prophetic gift will begin to hear what the Spirit of God says.

I only hope my friend does.

Taking on God and Patriotism is never a good thing and pretty unprofitable

 Recent really big flops in the movie biz are evidence that taking on God is a bad idea, see DaVinci Code for boredom (it did OK box office but is a major yawn) and some others harpooning Church and Christians.  Now Golden Compass which in itself probably isn't a terrible movie but is not a God Honoring movie.  So it's dead meat. 

 

Then there have been some anti American movies of late that are big time flops.  Redacted, Lambs for Lions and a couple others.  See Syriana for a prototypical flop. 

 

Movies that are snarky don't work.  At least not with me.

 

Appears not with anyone else either.

Christmas Pageant

Tonight Peggy and I went to Sycamore to a little Assembly of God Church, Bethel Assembly of God to their Christmas Program.  I was invited by my Doctor.  Her Kids were in it.

I am not usually blown away by such things, more endure than enjoy; but this one blew me fully away:

There were about 30 kids or so in the pageant.  There were 10 songs to learn and lots of lines.  These were kids from 7-12.  The program ran most of an hour.  Only one little miss  by one little girl on her lines.  There were multitudes of bible verses.  I forgot about the discipline AG kids have in memorizing scripture.  Bible Quiz Contest.  These kids knocked it out with aplomb.

This is a church of 120 people.  Many Pentecostal congregations have mostly older people (like me) in them.  Not this little church. It's full of kids and youth.

The music was upbeat and some were traditional Christmas songs set to different words.  There was lots of choreography.  I couldn't figure out how much time it took to put all this together.  I was told by one of the parents that memorization and discipline was just part of the procedure.  They didn't seem to have a difficult time with it all.

What impressed me most of all was the clarity of the message of the saving grace of Christ.  Jesus was the epicenter of everything that happened in the pageant.  I think we get too "Cool" in the church and try to be so in touch with our inner rapper in the church that we forget the ability to touch the heart of a person with a simple straightforward gospel message.  I actually teared up a couple times.  Little Children leading.

John Armstrong is doing the Christmas Pageant routine.  He is not having as good a time as I did tonight.  Tomorrow night we will attend another.  I'm looking forward to it.  Read what John has to say, the Christmas Pageant has become Broadway Production Church.  I'll let him tell you all about it.

It really felt warm and homey to be in that little AG church, they actually have an organ and HYMNALS.   Yikes!  I'm guessing they have a band too.  But, it seems to be working.  The Holy Ghost makes a huge difference when it comes to preparation.  Those kids really believe what they were doing matters. 

I happen to know that one of the 9 year old kids saved $29 and change simply to give to a children's AG missions program.  That's the heart of these kids.  His parents didn't give it to him.  This is money he could have used for his own purposes but he earned and gave gladly with the understanding that it would go to reach people on the other side of the earth.  If I were the missionary that got that money I would be very careful with it.

$75 Christmas Tree? Get Real

Being a nurseryman and having worked with friends who are in the tree biz for a long time I was chagrined to see Fraser fir trees for sale on a local Geneva IL lot at about 7' for $75. 

 

That is way over the top.

 

So, I trotted over to Lowes and bought one for $28.  Same tree, same town.

 

I don't LOVE supporting big box stores but triple the price, come on.  I sell 7' balled and burlapped trees all day long for $75.  To harvest that tree they have on the lot in Geneva was a sawdown.  Automated.  Then they baled and loaded about 500 on a truck and hauled them to the lot.  If they have $15 in them I'll be surprised.

 

I know I live in one of the richest counties in America, I know the average salary in our county is over a hundred grand per household and the average new house sold approaches a million dollars each but this is silly.  Just because you think you can you shouldn't rip the world a new one. 

 

What's worse, people were lined up buying trees.  Bringing their SUV's in to have one go for a ride on top.

 

I think I just earned my fuddy duddy award today.  Bah Humbug.

Why aren't Jews Rioting?

A grocery market in NYC was featuring Ham for Hanukkah.

Ignorance or Spite?

Why Ignoring the NIE Report Matters

Liberals were all ga ga over a report that said Iran didn't have and isn't developing a bomb. So did Abinanutjob, Pres of Iran.

This is the country that Just HUNG BY THE NECK TILL DEAD a 21 year old boy who was accused of homosex when he was 13.

Here's what he looked like just before he died.

Boy, dangerous looking character isn't he. Deserved to die. Right?

And, I'm supposed to feel good about a nation that hangs kids. I'm supposed to feel good about a nutcase who puts his nation at risk. I'm supposed to believe that it would be OK if these folks got a bomb.

Sorry, I don't and if you have common sense, neither do you.

66 years ago today and 9-11

From the Naval Historical Center:
The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy’s battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire’s southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.
The September 11, 2001 attack on the New York City World Trade Center was one of the great defining moments of history, a unified carefully planned attack murdered thousands of people, non combatants, without warning, without mercy. America unaware and weakened by a failed intelligence community, a soft military and a body politic who's head in the sand didn't stop the attack on 9-11. This has brought a reluctant America into the war against western civilization as a full combatant.

The war against the Japanese was won after the Nuclear Bomb was dropped. We have peace and democracy in Japan and it stands as a beacon in the far east.

The war against the terrorists and the support network that keeps them afloat is not yet won. If those who died at Pearl Harbor had not been vindicated by Victory over Japan our country would be a 3rd rate power today and the world would be a much more dangerous place. In fact it could be said we would be facing a hostile nuclear Japan as an adversary who's imperialistic tendencies would have conquered China, the Philippines and Korea as well as Taiwan. That greater untamed Japan would be a threat today still.

Yes hundreds of Thousands died to bring this essential victory to pass. They still would be if we had not persevered.

I'm not as optimistic about the future in our war on Terror. Those without vision keep harping on the war as a failed policy. They ignore the successes we have had in Iraq. Some in Afghanistan. And we are seeing a world wake up to the magnitude of disaster that losing this onslaught against western civilization could and will bring.

Remember Pearl Harbor. We did.

Remember 9-11. Do we?

66 Years ago today.

PS: The day after 9-11 I was despondent about the advent of war about to begin. I received a note from someone who was a 20 something during Pearl Harbor. Her Husband went to war. He came back. She made the comment that this would pass.

I'm not convinced. May it never leave our mind how horrible the threat really is.

The end of farm subsidies - The New Zealand Experience

From Duane Lester:

What would happen then? The common belief is it would be the death of the American farmer. That scare tactic insures the farm bill will return and be approved and signed. But is that really what would happen? Do you honestly believe that the fields in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa would be fallow, year after year? Neither do I.

Some farms might go under. That is true. The farms that cannot produce a crop for a profit will fold, but they will be bought up by other farmers and they will produce a crop and a profit. There are plenty of crops produced each year without the help of subsidies. The farms would not lie empty. They would just be run differently. Businesses need to stand or fall on their own. Government intervention, as usual, has done more harm than good.

Going Green Isn’t Always Good

A negative effect of farm subsidies that I have not touched on yet is the damage it has done to the environment. One great example is the huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2006, the area overgrown with algae covered 6,662 square miles. This is one case of going green that isn’t anything to be happy about. That is a lot of ocean without enough oxygen to support life. And in 2007, it was expected to be even bigger. What does this have to do with farm subsidies? Farmers get paid for the amount of crop produced, so that encourages them to plant as much land as they can, even right up against rivers. I have witnessed farmers clearing timber right next to a river so they could get a few more acres. Run-off from pesticides and fertilizers get into the rivers and end up in the Gulf. Reason Magazine notes:

A study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that 72 percent of U.S. rivers and 56 percent of lakes it surveyed suffer from agriculture-related pollution.

Here is that study.

One would be lead to believe that without subsidies, farmers would be forced to plant less in order to keep the market from bottoming out. This would also lower the price of farmland. As we noted before, the price of farmland is estimated to be 30% higher due to subsidies. This land could then return to timber along the rivers, limiting the exposure to chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Another environmental problem created by farm subsidies is the wasteful use of water. Were you aware that we are paying taxes to grow cotton in the Arizona desert? In 2003, we paid $103,125,972 in cotton subsidies to Arizona “farmers.” I put farmers in quotes because the top three recipients of the subsidies were Indian tribes that operate very successful casinos. They are not your struggling family farmer.

And the farmers in Arizona use over 60% of the state’s water, subsidized of course:

Cotton farmers, for example, receive massive government subsidies for growing their crops, and water their plants with subsidized artificially low-priced water. If the distortive government subsidies went away, and water prices were allowed to float up to where supply met demand (and we were not draining down aquifers and Lake Powell) then my guess is that a lot of desert agriculture would disappear.

My guess is he’s right. It’s the market at work and it corrects itself by the invisible hand. Another benefit of ending subsidies is an end to wasteful water uses.

Lower Prices to American Consumers

Why are our sodas sweetened with corn syrup? Target has a section in its stores that feature “premium sodas.” They are a little higher in price, but they use…real sugar. Americans pay over 200% more for sugar than the rest of the world. This has been going on since the War of 1812. And, like the other subsidies we have shown, it doesn’t go to the struggling family farmer:

Less than one percent (17 cane sugar growers) of the nation’s sugar growers gobble up 58 percent of the program benefits. In fact, one grower alone received $65 million. Contrary to popular rhetoric, these are not small family farmers. Rather, they are wealthy members of the sugar cartel, which pumps millions of dollars into congressional campaigns to protect their precious subsidy.

The high cost of sugar hurts America workers also, some of whom saw their jobs moved to another country in search of cheap sugar:

• Employment in food companies that use substantial amounts of sugar is declining. Imports of food products that contain sugar are growing because it is not competitive to make those products in the U.S.
• Numerous companies have relocated to Canada and Mexico, where sugar prices are much lower.
• Chicago, once the nation’s candy manufacturing capital, has lost thousands of jobs. In 2004, candy maker Fannie May closed its Chicago factory and Brach’s moved its Chicago candy production to Mexico.
• Michigan took a hit in 2002, when Kraft moved its 600-worker LifeSavers factory to Canada in search of low-cost sugar.
• Hershey Foods closed plants in Pennsylvania, Colorado and California and relocated them to Canada as well.

These folks paid the taxes that paid the subsidies that pushed their jobs to another country. And then they have to pay higher food prices for those same subsidies. High food prices as a result of farm programs took $16.2 billion from American taxpayers in 2004. That’s a annual food tax of $146 per house. Ending subsidies would end that tax.

What Happened in New Zealand

In 1984, New Zealand ended all farm subsidies. So what happened? They survived, and thrive today:

A report last year from the country’s main farmers’ group, the Federated Farmers of New Zealand, documents what happened:

• While land prices initially fell after reform, by 1994 they had rebounded and remain high today.
• The predicted farm bankruptcies never materialized — with just 1 percent of farmers going out of business.
• The value of farm output soared 40 percent in constant dollar terms since the mid-1980s and agriculture’s share of national output rose from 14 percent to 17 percent today.
• Since subsidies were removed, productivity in the sector has risen 6 percent annually — compared with just 1 percent before reform.

New Zealand’s farmers have competed successfully in world markets against subsidized producers in much of the rest of the world.

Other reports suggest that the removal of farm subsidies in New Zealand have been a benefit to Kiwi farmers:

• Today New Zealand has around 80,000 farm holdings on 15.5 million hectares (38.3 million acres). The number of farms has held steady since subsidies were removed; land area has fallen slightly as marginal land has been turned over to forestry or allowed to revert to native bush.
• Since subsidy removal the agricultural sector has grown faster than the rest of the economy. Agriculture’s contribution to the New Zealand gross domestic product (GDP) has risen from 14.2% in 1986-87 to 16.6% in 1999-2000. Agriculture accounts for 11.4% of the total workforce.
• Rural population has kept pace with national population since 1986. Employment on farms has fallen somewhat, but these losses have been balanced by increased rural employment in tourism-related businesses.
• The number of forced farm sales directly resulting from the removal of subsidies is estimated at 800, or 1% of the total number of farms
• Agricultural productivity has gone up 5.9% a year on average since 1986. Prior to 1986 agricultural productivity gains were about 1% a year.
• The total number of stock units on New Zealand farms has fallen by 9% since 1987. Sheep numbers are down by 29%, but cattle numbers are up by 35%. Sheep farming was the most heavily subsidized sector within agriculture.
• In 2001 governmental assistance to agriculture was equal to just 1% of the value of agricultural output, compared to an average value for developed countries of 31%. Remaining assistance in New Zealand is primarily in the form of funding for agricultural research.
• Around 90% of New Zealand’s total farm output is exported. These exports account for over 55% of total merchandise exports. Most food consumed in the country is domestically produced.

If the farmers in New Zealand can do it, so can we. We need to return to the times of rugged individualism, where a man was left to his own devices to succeed or fail. The government is there to insure the farmers right to try, not his right to success. His success is up to him. Or at least it used to be. Today, we seem to be caught in the mindset that America’s farmers can’t compete on the world stage without the protection of the federal government. It’s as insulting as it is false. Remove the subsidies and watch the spirit of individualism take over.

THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY TRUE - Gene

Ron, Can you confirm this New Zealand account?

Cross Posted at Say Anything

Bill Cosby is right, what's is the deal with the African American Culture Anyway

On the heels of a nut who kills 8 people in Omaha and who is undeniably a white boy this post will come as an oxymoron.

The fact is something is culturally wrong in Black America. Hip Hop, Rap, Gangsta Culture, I don't know.

But a woman is beaten to a pulp on a public bus in Baltimore by black kids, Middle School Kids.

And a boy scout troop selling Christmas trees in Cincinnati and are robbed at the point of a Sawed Off Shotgun by 3 black thugs.

Black is too nice for them. They are the lowest scum there is.

But I won't sink to the level I could. Yes, there are lots of bad white folks and they do lots of dumb things, but these kind of continued assaults on the common peace in our country by black gangsters has got to come to an end.

What's really hard to grasp is that nearly all the news stories you can find on the net like in Google news never mention the race or color of the thugs that did this on the bus or at the Christmas tree lot.

I want to see concealed carry made legal. If there was I don't think this kind of brazen lawlessness would be nearly as common. A few dead school kids and a couple dead Boy Scout tree lot robbers might just give some of these thugs a second thought.

We must get our country back from the gangsters and thugs no matter who they are or where they are.

Of course, it'll never happen. Too many Sharptons and Jacksons making sure the thugs have all the rights and those who just want to make a living and have a life never have any.

Winter just like in Austraila

After a long day at the keyboard working on various book and website updates I did what any good working stiff in Australia would do.

It's zero. Cold. Dark. So I went for a half hour walk in my wolverines that are the best for walking, I needed a break. I came home and fired up the old barby. Yessur nothing like standing out in the frozen snow pack and grilling sausage and hamburgers. The Aussie Grill thinks it's in Perth. Or not.

But, I was hungry for some immolated meat. YUM.

Straight Shooter Shoots Straight

John Bolton who's aim is always on tells truth.

The WAPO editorial re the Report on Iran and the Bomb is really telling.

Only the foolish left takes this report as anything but clumsiness and bad intelligence.

Reading the lefty blogs reinforces the idea that if it demeans George W Bush it must be good.

Talk about sheep like behavior. If Satan himself showed up in the flesh, red suit, forked tail, pointy hat and pitchfork and said, "I think George W Bush is an idiot and a doofus" there would be lefty types willing to follow Satan wherever he would lead them even into hell if it meant that they would be ablel to do it to spite Bush. Well guess what boys and girls, that's exactly what's happening.

It's interesting, this was predicted thousands of years ago that when the evil one comes as an angel of light that many would follow him, even good people, because of blindness.

Getting past blind hatred of a man and his politics is a hard thing to do. I have such a blind spot for Jimmy Carter. But, if you are a Christan and you hold yourself out as one, you are and should be held to a higher and better standard than others. Carter failed that.

He has turned out to be as blind as many others are. For that I despise the man's positions. Despising him not as a man, but as a man who clings to lost empty politics at the expense of honesty and rightousness (doing what is right). I don't think he does.

But, I'm blind in that area like others are about Bush.

STOP the Destruction of Rural America by bad Politics

Watching the candidates traipse across Iowa with the promise of two pickups in every garage to anyone who might vote for them is how we got here.

The whole farm program has destroyed the American middle.

Like all well intentioned programs it started out good. Like busing, like equal opportunity employment, like fair housing, like ADA for the handicapped, like food stamps and section eight, like all sorts of well meaning programs that have unintended consequences we have a farm policy that has become surreal.

This is one program that needs to be full stopped. No more money. Halt. The others need revisiting in implementation. I can think of no compelling reason why any farm program at all should be continued for another day.

It won't kill off the farmers who shouldn't be killed off and will kill off the ones who should. Business wise.

All American Blogger, a group of think tank types have published a long thoughtful piece regarding this whole issue. It's worth reading if you care. Even if the whole issue doesn't matter to you, what should matter is the rebirth of the central plains. That will only come with pain. A great deal of pain. All births do, ask my wife.

Part One
How we got there. What happened that we now subsidise agriculture at over a billion dollars per working day in America. The history of why and how of Farm Subsidy politics.

Part Two
How farm programs are simply corporate welfare, leading to consolidation of family farms thereby destroying the social and economic fabric of rural America.

Part Three
Scams Scandals and outright stupidity. How the money congress and the president sign into law ends up in the hands of millionaires, billionaires and dead people by fraud. The haves get more and the ones who might have benefited from it all get nothing or peanuts.

Part Four
The anti Humanitarian effect of bad farm policy. The world suffers so Agriculture in America can continue it's inefficient ways. Not good for the world, not good for America. Why do we continue?

Tomorrow
What would happen if all farm programs and subsidies were cut off NOW. NO Option. Sink or Swim. It's painful but good. We must do this and stop spending billions on this folly.

Winter Wonder on the Land

Big Snow last night.  6 inches or more of global warming came down.  My snow blower got right out of bed and marched out to confront the white stuff.

 

Guilt set in.  I got up and helped.  It was actually kind of nice.  Bright, clean, white pure fun.

 

Exercise before breakfast is something new for me.  Wait exercise after breakfast, lunch or dinner is something new for me seeing as how I never do.

 

But it is pretty.  It's already melting since it's above freezing.  I got my roses covered with leaves before the snow.  And my very tender variegated hydrangeas.

 

It's good to be in Illinois.  Lots of horticultural adventures.

 

I  might just pile a big pile of leaves on top  of where my glads were last summer.  I didn't lift the bulbs.  Soon as this melts if it doesn't get too cold I'll do that.  I already have all my tomato vines and squash vines piled on top.  And it hasn't yet frozen on the ground.  SO, I just might.  I have never been able to get them to overwinter after I lift them.  They always rot.

 

We have yet to put a single Christmas light up.  Neither has our neighbors.  The nice weather held everyone back.  Now we will trudge thru the snow and do it.  Smart, sorta, not so much.

 

I'm feelin sorta merry.  Bah Humbug will come later. 

Oil Prices on the Brink

There are lots of reasons. The advent of 90 dollar oil is fueling huge research on all kinds of things

One such, which I actually wish weren't true is the find in Wyoming recently that will mean that the USA using the oil it uses right now could be energy independent for the next 400 years.

I wish it weren't true because I would like to see some effective not fossil fuel alternatives developed.

But, so it is. We are not going to freeze in the dark or just ride bicycles.

I'm totally unqualified and unlicensed

In Illinois we have lots of licencing laws. There are and were licencing laws regarding the clergy.

What bugs me is the ones that are just stupid. Barbers need Licences?

Those who minister need Licences?

It's all upside down. Now a MSM newspaper man has bemoaned the place the blogosphere has taken. That we are all unqualified. UNLICENSED. So, where is the line the establishment wants me to get into to get my blogging licences.

Here's what he said. Emphasis is mine:

"And when you look at the internet business, what’s dangerous about it is that people who are clearly unqualified get to disseminate their piece to the masses. I respect the journalism industry, and the fact of the matter is ...someone with no training should not be allowed to have any kind of format whatsoever to disseminate to the masses to the level which they can. They are not trained. Not experts. [...]

"Therefore, there’s a total disregard, a level of wrecklessness that ends up being a domino effect. And the people who suffer are the common viewers out there and, more importantly, those in the industry who haven’t been fortunate to get a radio or television deal and only rely on the written word. And now they’ve been sabotaged. Not because of me. Or like me. But because of the industry or the world has allowed the average joe to resemble a professional without any credentials whatsoever."


WAAAAAAAA

Only Inches from Salvation

The house of Prayer in our area is Bolingbrook IL. It's in a mall. Right next door is a company that provides police supplies to cops in the area. It's kind of a hang out for cops.

Drew Peterson, alleged by some to be involved in the disappearance of his 4th wife Stacey and the death of his 3rd wife likely shopped the cop supply store next door.

If he had perhaps he heard a strain or two of music coming thru the walls. Or someone praying.

I don't know.

I do know that if he did indeed visit the Cop Supply Shop in Bolingbrook he was only inches away from the manifested presence of God. If he had turned right 10 feet and walked in the door what could that have meant?

I'm speculating. What I'm not speculating on is the huge numbers of people missing God every day. Inches away. Never seeing him.

Jesus talked more about seeing the Kingdom of Heaven than going to heaven. The Kingdom is here now on this side of the veil. The Kingdom is where He is King.

The doors to the cop shop (on my right, your left) are one kingdom. The one to IHOP is the another. One door can lead to eternal life. The other??? Stacy Peterson is gone and by most presumed dead.

Missed em. Missed em both. A miss is good as a mile.

Dana Perino kicks Helen Thomas' Butt and not a moment too soon

Helen Thomas, old broad way past her good till date, pinhead according to Bill O'Reily, left wing America Hater was crushed by Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary and well able to do her job, successor to Tony Snow. Atta girl.

You can watch the fireworks here. I don't know how more inappropriate and idiotic someone can be than Helen Thomas.

They can be glad I'm not King. I would evict her overstayed rear end from that room and have a burning of her press credentials in public. She would never set foot in that room again if I had my way. The free press remains free because it allegedly does what it does with open unbiased eyes. When it is an agenda to undermine our troops and encourage our enemies, that's too much.

Helen Thomas long since passed that mark. Get her out of there. It' time to take back the press room from the traitors.

Happy 58th to my somewhat Younger Brother December 5

I want you to know who read my blog that my best friend in the world other than Jesus and my Wife is my brother Steven. We talk nearly every day about almost nothing.

His birthday is today, Dec 5. He isn't catching up with me, but he is banging on the door.

So, Steven, I remember you being born. It was a long time ago.

Thanks for being my brother and my best friend. Here's a picture of Steve and his wife Mary.

How to Activate the Prophetic in your Life

You have received prophetic word. So have I. The Spirit of the Living God has come alive as a word thru a prophet or another Christian with the power of God flowing in them.

I have received such words. They thrill and give great hope. We live on those words of hope.

Unfortunately time is not on our side as the prophetic declaration over our lives takes place. Samuel anoints David as King of all Israel yet it doesn't happen for 16 years. He could have become discouraged. I'm guessing he DID become discouraged.

But he became King in the Fullness of Time as he did not faint and stayed obedient.

Joseph was given a prophetic word as young boy. Yet decades passed before he saw his brothers bowing down to him in his position. He didn't faint. He didn't give up.

You are in financial difficulty. You find yourself at your ropes end. A Prophet of God you know and trust comes to you and gives you a word that says, "God is about to supply all your needs, More than you can imagined or expect".

That's on a Monday. By Thursday you begin to ask, when Lord when? Not a lack of faith, by the wearing down of the saints thru time. It's whisper of the enemy.

A couple weeks later you get a phone call from a person who flows in the prophetic, they tell you, "You are about to see the magnificent provision of God in your life, he is about to provide for you more than you could ask or think".

You get all excited once more. It thrills you to think of it all.

You begin watching for this marvelous event. Time passes. Discouragement sets in. Your response to the word of God in your life needs to be examined.

What is the proper response to a prophetic declaration over our lives?

I heard a man, Bill Johnson, who I don't actually know, explain this better than I have ever heard. It was a rehema word that spoke directly to my Spirit. I hope it will for you as well.

Jesus said to the disciples, Lets go across the lake. He crawls into the back of the boat and goes to sleep. He has said "We are going across the lake". A prophetic declaration. God's will spoken thru flesh.

During the trip a storm kicks up. Water begins to fill the boat. The disciples begin to panic. They do what we all do when we panic as Christians. We pray. They prayed to the Son of the Living God in the Back of the Boat. He woke up. They cried out, Don't you care if we perish?

Now, time out. There were only possible outcomes of this situation.

1. The Galilee Gazette's headline the next day might have read, Boat goes down in storm on sea, all 13 on board are drown.

2. Without much note,  lake storm suddenly quiets and the boat arrives on the other shore of Gaderra. No one much notices.

They couldn't have turned around and headed back to shore. The storm was about to swamp the boat. Turning back would have been certain suicide.

The idea of running away from the swamping of the boat wouldn't work. It was sink or swim.

After Jesus calmed the storm he said, according to the account in Luke, "WHERE IS YOUR FAITH"?

I don't' think he said it in a nice holy voice. I think he was irritated. Jesus could get irritated. See the temple cleansing for an illustration of same.

Jesus had declared, "we are going to the other side of the lake" and then rested. So should we.

I have heard Bible teachers say the Disciples should have had faith enough to speak to the storm and it would have obeyed them. I rather think they might have just said, "Jesus said it, we believe Jesus" and kept bailing.

That is if they believed they were going to the other side of the lake. Faith in the word of God should have been enough to get them there.

At this point they had seen many miracles at the hands of Jesus. They had been with him more than a year. People healed, raised from the dead, blind eyes opened, cripples walked and deaf heard. But they still didn't KNOW HIM.

Faith comes when we KNOW HIM, not about him, knowledge doesn't build faith, revelation - KNOWING HIM does.

Another example:

Jesus feeding the 5000. They are hungry. They haven't eaten for a couple days. Things look bad. There were lots of hungry mouths and little or no resources available other than Jesus. Jesus Prophetically says, (he Declares), "FEED THEM".

The disciples say, "with what shall we feed them, we have very little money and the villages around here can't supply in any case".

Jesus has said, "they will be fed". Or, he is a piker to be shown up as a fraud. He will go back on his word. So, he says, "what DO we have"?

Fish and loaves. "But what is so little among so many"?

Now at that point most people receiving prophecy would have expected Jesus to take those loaves and fishes, thrown them up in the air and spoken over them "Shazam" and there would be a huge pile of provision in loaves and fish falling to the earth. Great idea. It's how most of us wish Jesus would answer our prayers of fulfill his word over our lives. It's just not how Jesus does it.

He says to the Disciples, "Start feeding".

Now I could imagine a disciple saying, WHAT? We'll look bad. We'll look like fools. Jesus you have a reputation to look out for. What happens when we run out? This isn't going to end well.

He just says, "have them break up into groups". Feed one group, start over from the scraps and feed the next and then,

You know the rest, everyone ate, and lots was left over.

Jesus didn't rebuke them for a lack of faith this time. But the stomachs of those hungry people were already filled in the Spirit the instant Jesus said, Feed Them.

It didn't manifest for a little while. But all were fed and filled.

I don't see this as much a miracle of multiplication as much as a manifestation of God in response to the Prophetic declaration "FEED THEM".

You have received a prophetic word. You can stay in the boat and do all you can to keep it afloat expecting God to take you where he promised (he will). He is as good as his word. Of course as we pray sometimes God will miraculously act. Frankly, that isn't the way he usually does it. He wants us to act as if, to act in faith, to act believing God. What he wants most is for us to trust him.

You may be faced with little provision and huge demands on those provisions. "What is so little among so many?" Doing nothing will mean your prophetic destiny will be lost because you didn't obey.

Had the disciples not obeyed people would have starved.

Jesus could have solved that problem in a hundred different ways, BUT he did it by asking the disciples to act in faith believing.

He hasn't changed. Do what he has already told you to do. Be obedient. Follow the word of God in your life. It's a sure word. Whatever he promised you, move in confidence that he will provide. He is faithful.

Abraham did it. So can we. Ponder the promises of God you have already received. 

Daily Kos throws up all over itself

Every year an astute right wing blogger accumulates some really wacky even dangerous things the most influential blog on the left Daily Kos, writes. And to be sure you understand, these are NOT the commenters, they are worse, these are the actual post writers.

This is the bunch Hillary Clinton went to pay homage to.

Two samples from a list of 10:

8) "I know I’m a Jewish lesbian and (Ahmadinejad would) probably have me killed. But still, the guy speaks some blunt truths about the Bush Administration that make me swoon...

Okay, I admit it. Part of it is that he just looks cuddly. Possibly cuddly enough to turn me straight. I think he kind of looks like Kermit the Frog. Sort of. With smaller eyes. But that’s not all...

I want to be very clear. There are certainly many things about Ahmadinejad that I abhor — locking up dissidents, executing of gay folks, denying the fact of the Holocaust, potentially adding another dangerous nuclear power to the world and, in general, stifling democracy. Even still, I can’t help but be turned on by his frank rhetoric calling out the horrors of the Bush Administration and, for that matter, generations of US foreign policy preceding." -- sallykohn

1) "But do I still support the individual men and women who have given so much to serve their country? No. I think they’re a bunch of idiots. I also think they’re morally retarded. Because they sign a contract that says they will kill whoever you tell me to kill. And that is morally retarded.

Friends, the most important moral decision a man makes in the course of a day is "Who am I going to kill today?" That’s a decision you should agonize over, dream about, rehearse in your mind for hours, not just leave up to some hare-brained President you didn’t even vote for.

A man’s killing list is a very personal matter. It should be between him and those persistent voices in his head. So to sum up, I don’t like our troops, I don’t like what they’re doing, I don’t like their fat, whining families, and yet, I support them. Thank God I live in a free country. Thank You." -- AWhitneyBrown

If that doesn't trigger your outrage-o-meter read the whole list. The Daily Kos and it's sycophantic sheep are blind and anti American.

Of course, that's just my unbiased opinion. Yours might be different once you read the whole thing.

I feel so much better, or worse depending.......

Iran is just kidding. Like the imitation tanks and planes the British deployed on the ground to confuse German intelligence, Iran has been faking it to make it all along.

That's what the NYT and all the intelligence agencies in the world are saying.

The same NYT that makes stories up. The same intelligence agencies that swore up and down 5 years ago that Saddam had the nuke. The same intelligence agencies that knew Saudi Suicide bombers were floating around the USA and did nothing.

Common sense people. That's all that's needed.

Common sense to say, They look like they have nukes. They act like they have nukes. They are refining away like they have nukes. They threaten Israel like they have nukes. And the other day they said they have a missile that flies 1200 miles to what, deliver Persian rugs?

AND, Abinanutjob, the Iranian prez flaunts all this knowing nuclear Israel is a sortie away. Putting good men and women at risk. Blowing up all the nuke plants Iran wide would be an easy mark. Or at least a message mark.

Is that what the real game is? Verbally drawing a huge bullseye on Iran to draw and attack and then cry wolf because, "see, we never did have any nukes".

I'm not convinced. When you deal with a snake you are likely to get bit. Abinanutjob is a snake.

This news doesn't make me feel one bit better about anything. NOTHING.

And, the fact that the MSM is fawning all over it like it's a good reason to keep whistling past the nuclear graveyard is no reason to suspend vigilance.

Neville Chamberlain is alive and well in the MSM.

Who's Energy Plan is THIS?

Liberal Womens Organization Silent on the Abuse of a Woman

In case anyone ever wondered. Most political action groups on the left are agenda driven. If you don't fit the agenda they drive they ignore you.

They are intellectually, morally, spiritually, ideologically and politically dishonest. Oh and corrupt too.

Remember the poor woman who had the bad fortune to allow a teddy bear to be named Mohammad and was almost lynched by a mob? Seems like they are pretty selective on the left, you see, SHE was a Christian doing Christian work. Doesn't qualify for left wing ideologues. If she had been aborting a baby the NOW GALS would have come to her defense.

As it is, the NOW GALS have nothing to say about this travesty.

Corrupt and Dishonest. They are lower than snakes; snakes won't ALWAYS bite you.

Why I post whole articles at a time -

I used to just give links. Then I discovered that unless people were passionate about a subject they wouldn't go to a link. It takes more work to publish a whole article with attribution. But, if I feel passionate about a topic, and my intent is to help you "Get It", then I will publish the whole thing.

Besides, for those who read this blog, all 75 or so of you, I know you to be pretty bright people capable of reading whole articles. I also am not trying to dumb down my appeal what little I have, to cater to a lesser literacy.

My spelling and grammar makes up for that.

Just thought you would want to know. So read away. You are in the minority.

Genius always is!

From the Smarter Brother

I enjoy Rush Limbaugh and if I am driving listen to him. If I'm at home not so much.

Most people don't know as much about David Limbaugh who I like very much. Articulate and intelligent. The Republicans would do well to listen to him. But they won't. You can't teach a pig to sing, it annoys the pig and wastes time for the teacher.

David L talks of the fool's debate on CNN. Why did the Republican Candidates go on CNN when the Democrats wouldn't go on Fox News's debate? I guess it has to do with sometimes foolhardy Republican courage. Won't let that happen again now will we.....

David Limbaugh:

CNN/YouTube Debate Was a Sham

Monday, December 3, 2007 8:06 AM By: David Limbaugh

The CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate serves as a perfect example of why conservatives refer to CNN as "Clinton News Network." Republicans should have declined CNN's invitation, just like Democrats declined Fox News, though it's doubtful Fox would have orchestrated or permitted a similar ambush of Democratic candidates. The "debate" involved many questions designed not so much to highlight the candidates' differences (other than Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney on immigration) but to place the entire conservative agenda in a negative light. Many were "When did you stop beating your wife?" questions because they included premises calculated to make Republicans look bad irrespective of the candidates' responses. Even if CNN didn't conspire with the questioners, the effect was the same. You'd never catch Democrats in such a situation. Let me give you a few examples and, with some, offer alternative responses. One questioner asked what criminal penalties should be imposed against an aborting mother — not whether there should be criminal penalties but what they should be. The purpose was to divert attention from the horror of abortion to the seeming harshness of criminalizing pregnant women who choose to end their babies' lives. Conservatives are uncaring, uncompassionate and evil. Are Democrats ever asked whether the denial of a woman's "choice" to abort is outweighed by the denial of the baby's very right to live? Another asked "Christian conservative" candidates whether Jesus approved of the death penalty. On the heels of the abortion question, this question seemed intended to 1) suggest an inconsistency in the conservative position opposing abortion but supporting capital punishment and 2) paint Christian conservatives as false followers of Christ because Christ presumably wouldn't favor capital punishment. Gov. Mike Huckabee masterfully answered the first implication, explaining that the death penalty is imposed on those adjudicated guilty by law whereas abortion is performed on the most innocent — something I've always said, having never understood this illogical liberal attempt at playing "gotcha." Huckabee ducked the Jesus question with a cute quip that Jesus was too smart ever to run for public office. I probably wouldn't have won any points, but I would have answered it directly, saying I believe God mandates capital punishment in the Old Testament not as a denigration of life but as an affirmation of it. Precisely because God made us in his image, we do not have the right to murder, and the murderer must be punished with his own life. Though Christians believe God revealed himself progressively and more fully in the New Testament, the immutable God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. Since God's capital-punishment mandate wasn't retracted in the New Testament, I believe it's fair to assume Jesus would approve of the practice. Another question included the assumption that our invasion of Iraq had hurt America's image in the world, especially the Muslim world, and asked what the candidates would do to repair it. The question implied the invasion was wrong. I wish the candidates had rejected the premise, defended the invasion and added that if our image has suffered, it is largely due to disgraceful Democratic slander against President Bush and the invasion. Incidentally, are Democrats ever asked what would happen in Iraq if we were to follow their blind demands to precipitously withdraw our troops? Another question suggested that since candidate John McCain was the only torture victim on the stage, the other candidates had no right to disagree with his opinion opposing waterboarding. I wish the other candidates had challenged this "typically liberal" assumption that firsthand experience imputes inerrancy on a subject and the lack of it disqualifies. As a bonus, I wish they had also corrected McCain's self-described "straight talk" on this subject in implying that Romney's prudent failure to publicly define torture constituted an endorsement of it. Another rhetorical question suggested President Bush had given Vice President Dick Cheney too much power. This ongoing liberal myth wrongly implies that with many decisions the buck has not stopped with Bush but with Cheney. Insiders I know and trust flatly refute that notion, saying that President Bush has been absolutely in charge. It also contradicts the other liberal idea that Bush is a dictator who won't listen to anyone. Finally, the questions about the confederate flag and gays in the military were crafted not to elicit information or distinguish the candidates' positions but to make Republicans look bigoted — period. And what could be more unprofessional than CNN encouraging the disgruntled retired gay general to lecture the candidates for failing to give the answer he preferred to his loaded, self-serving and mostly irrelevant question? The candidates answered the questions far more directly than Democrats ever have in their debates, but, overall, we witnessed a barely disguised CNN propaganda spectacle. David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His book "Bankrupt: The Intellectual and Moral Bankruptcy of Today's Democratic Party" (Regnery) was just released in paperback. To find out more about David Limbaugh, please visit his Web site at www.davidlimbaugh.com.

Chavez: "Where's Jimmy Carter when I need him?"

Headline: from GNN - the GENE NEWS NETWORK (where like the daily Kos I make it up)

Hugo Chavez is reported to have been complaining about the outcome of yesterday's election. He has been wondering why Jimmy Carter wasn't there to supervise the election. It is reported that he said, "If Jimmy Carter had been here, I would have won this thing".

False Christians

Men who claim to be Christian are trying to make a moral equivalency between islamofacists and Christians. I don't see Christians rioting about someone naming a teddy bear Jesus.

So, first John Esposito and John Voll who sign themselves in this article as Christians.. They are not. They are wolves in sheep's clothing.

Another one such is Jim Wallis of the Sojourners. They claim to be a Christian group. In fact they are a liberal lukewarm front for an Antichrist agenda. They deceive many. Sadly.

Be careful who you listen to.

Why Churches Stagnate – A parable of the Tares

In younger years I spent a lot of time in the seat of a combine. A large machine used to harvest wheat. This is about that process, the growing of the wheat and the parallels to what happens in a church that causes it to stagnate and die.

Jesus talked a great deal about growing and harvesting wheat. He warned about not disturbing the tares in order to preserve the wheat.

Growing wheat in North Dakota was easy and hard. First you had to start with good seed. It had to be sown in good soil. There was a treatment to keep it from spoiling when it was cold in early spring. Once it emerged there were many dangers to keep it from coming to maturity.

There was the chance of drying out if it didn't rain from time to time.

If there was nothing to feed the roots the little plants would die.

If too many bugs and small animals pick away at the young plants they are they will die by being eaten.

But some will survive. Some will grow and begin to “Stool Out”. That means they begin to try to bear fruit. They shoot up a stalk. This becomes a crucial time.

If the heat of the day or dryness sets in there will be no fruit. It will look like the wheat is doing OK but it isn't. All appearances are there but no fruit and therefore no capacity to perpetuate itself.

Then there's the tares. Tares are weeds. Some weeds are like wild oats. They start out looking like wheat. But, later we would discover it was a weed imitating wheat.

Some tares don't look like the wheat at all but they are among the wheat. There's no way of really getting rid of them without destroying much wheat in the process.

When the fields look ready for harvest they look good at a distance. The difficulty comes later. When we would try to harvest the number of tares in the wheat would regulate how quickly or effectively the harvest would go.
Many times in fall harvest when things were going particularly tough I would find myself under the combine with the cylinder door open and a knife in my hand cutting out green weeds (Tares) that clogged up the works. Sometimes it would stop progress all together.

Then after the wheat was harvested and placed in the bin we would clean it up by putting it thru a cleaner to make ready for processing into bread. That cleaner sifted and screened the chaff which is the result of the fruit of tares and the wheat. The wind of the blower would winnow out the weed seeds.

Only then would the wheat be unified as one grain in wholeness.

The explanation of this parable:

Christians are made by the planting of a seed. Some plant others water and then some harvest. There are many dangers foils and snares that will try to stop the growth of a new Christian.

Dry times will discourage some. Some whither when persecution comes at the hands of scoffers. Only the refreshing and soaking of the HOLY SPIRIT coming like rain will keep the little seedling alive. The pests of worry, pain, disease and discouragement keep many from growing and they die before they can come to fullness. Others grow thru the situation and become more sturdy, deeper rooted and fruitful because of it. The problem is it takes more and more rain and the sun to allow the plant to recover when times are hard.

Only the rain of the Holy Ghost, early and latter rain will allow the plants to make it.

Sometimes the latter rains seem like they will wash away the plants, but the rain will cause them to grow if they are deep rooted and well established.

Now the separation begins to take place. Some plants begin to look like they are fruitful parts of the field. But they are weeds. In the same way, in any church there are some who look like they are part of it all but are just empty shoots or worse tares.

When the harvest time comes and the precious wheat is ready to be harvested there comes a quandary. The tares are there. They look much like the wheat. They have much in common. They grew up in the same place. It's just that some of what is being harvested is useless and fruitless.
What's worse like the tares that clog up the combine, the tares in the church slow or worse stagnate and stop all growth.

The tares look green and productive. But they suck the life out of any church.

The reason churches stumble and even fail is they don't recognize they are spending too much time on tares. Tares that have no calling to be part of the wheat harvest. So the church is half wheat ready and fruitful for the harvest, and half tares who only hinder the growth of the wheat. Pastors looking for numbers try hard to hang on to the tares in the vain idea that they have potential to become wheat.

They never will. There comes a day when the harvest is ready and the wheat and tares are harvested together. Then it will be too late. Much wheat has already been lost due to the strangling effect of the tares.

But, the harvest happens, the purifying begins, the wind of the holy spirit winnows away the chaff and it is burned in the lake of fire.

Yes, I believe that many pastors are tending to tares at the expense of the wheat. It's time to pray for a church split. Let the tares disappear and die. Let the true harvest come in and become unified set apart in holiness and purity.

If we read the parables and teachings of Jesus I don't know if we can come to any other conclusion.

Start praying for a major church split that weeds out the tares from the congregation once and for all. Then, become a better husbandman.

UPDATE - Chavez doesn't get it done

Last night I wrote this. It looked as if Chavez had it covered. It looks like Venezuela dodged a bullet. Or did they. I suspect they didn't. Chavez is a despot and despots will despotic. I made that word up. So, it ain't over.

The only thing that might be helpful is that Juan Carlos of Spain, who helped destroy fascism, has called Chavez for being the boob that he is. He may have given the opposition enough courage to squelch things.

BUT, I'm a German. I know well what happens when a dictator is apparently crushed. They are like cancer. They come back. Chavez tasted infinite power and believes the Hollywood nutcases who are sycophants for any left wing despotism.

He'll be back. This ain't over.

What I wrote last night:


It appears as if Hugo Chavez has brought full blown socialism to the country of Venezuela. I visited there many years ago when it was a free country but now it has become a hell hole of socialistic, even communistic decline.

This is a reason why people who don't pay taxes shouldn't vote. The ignorant vote has made him dictator for life. Just like in Cuba. Mike Moore's favorite country.

This is good news for Sean Penn who just got a grant to make an anti American movie from Chavez.

Kevin Spacey is Hugo's buddy.

Naomi Campbell loves the Chavez, dictator for life.

This is Danny Glovers partner.

Cindy Sheehan went bonkers when Chavez received her.

Harry Belefonte embraced him and called Bush Hitler.

The left has been happy to see Venezuela become a communist dictatorship.

Well, left wing, how's hat going so far. The far radical left in the USA are sedationist and traitors. Why aren't they being water boarded? I would start with Belefonte. DE---O!

Here is what someone else said:

I don’t see anything about Chavez that the American Democrat party disagrees with. Democrats have long championed public indoctrination for every child in a government-controlled, tax-funded school. Many Democrats insist that conservative media needs to be shut down. Nationalized corporations? Does anyone believe that the 3 leading Dem candiates for Pres don’t get giddy at the prospect of the seizure of corporate assets by the State?

Chavez has just been able to accomplish the Democrat Party’s goals for America. Why would any American liberal fail to embrace Chavez? He should be their hero. Tyranny shmyrrany!