Wonderful Matters

This morning the news interview show Meet the Press featured Ron Paul. I'd imagine all those who consider themselves true blue dye-in-the-wool conservative Constitutionalists were paying close attention, for this was the first real mainstream press exposure for Paul to elaborate on his quasi-libertarian perspective. What I saw was a typically deft and well-prepared Tim Russert tear apart Paul, who appeared to hem and haw even in-and-around what many see as quite principled positions: dramatic reduction of the scope of government, ending the income tax, limiting our business in the affairs of other nations, and so forth. Paul's problem is that the Agency of Cain must by nature behave in unprincipled ways. The primary functions of the World System's government are all murderously deceitful. Countless times in the past Paul bellowed about his disdain for that perfidy in very concrete ways. Russert was ready, pounding him with it and demonstrating that you can't be fully p...

I'd written a lot about how major league baseball was a scam because of free agency and something I've called "competitive duplicity," the idea that the powers-that-be in baseball set things up so that certain teams are guaranteed to have an unfair competitive advantage to ensure the continued viability of the game. (Just as a heads up, some of my work is at EEEEEE! a San Francisco Giants fan site run by a very good friend, and my seminal writing is here .) Recently lots has come out about major leaguers using steroids. Indeed just today former Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte confessed he's used them, but not to build up but to better heal from an injury. I think the first thing that I feel, being a Giants fan and, as such, a great admirer of Barry Bonds, is how silly the whole asterisk thing is now. I was hurt every time someone would blithely speak about an asterisk next to Bonds home run achievements, and then laugh as though they were all above it. Now it is re...

A wonderfully hilarious opinion piece appeared in the Los Angeles Times today by humorist John Kenney, "Mr. Christ and Me." It was the absolutely perfect satirical exposition of the political Catholicist's devotion to his own Jesus. You may know that recently Republican Mitt Romney felt the need to rationalize his "faith" as being quite within the mainstream. For most of U.S. history Mormonism has existed as a pariah religion outside the boundaries of Americanist religious culture, but over the past many years it has gone to great lengths to market itself as being as normal as any other Christian faith. The silliness of Romney's attempt can only truly be seen through the eyes of Scripture, which cuts so incisively that nothing is left to doubt. One of the things it divides quite nicely is the World and the Kingdom. The Kingdom's monarch is none other than Jesus Christ. He reigns supremely, majestically-- and still considers His own as beloved children of...

I am just beginning a new book called God's Continent about the expanded presence of Islam in Europe. I'm just at the first few pages, and right out of the gate there was an interesting note about Muslim's designs on a religiously moribund Europe. It is simply that Muslims plan to "outbirth" the people of other religions, notably Christianity. It is now well-known that Europe's birthrate has leveled off and in some places has gone negative. Lots can be said about that, but the thought I had about this outbirthing strategy of Islamic dominance was this: Children do follow closely the things parents do, even if those things are quite ungodly. One could easily say that Islam is an ungodly religion, and in many ways it is, but much of the derision of it comes from those not in the Muslim God Club. They are zealots for the "Not-Islam" religion, and that religion is often quite Catholicist. One very good thing about Islam is that it is very law-oriented....

In the previous post I posed the following question: "Why do we care so much about what people think of who we are, authentically, but don't give God the same consideration?" The idea is simply that we are quite interested with what others think of us. No, I don't believe for a second anyone who says they can say with 100% verity "I really don't care what others think." They're lying. By definition, for anyone to have any meaningful relationship, who one is must be expressed to another in some way. Otherwise we are all just schizophrenics. Given this quite veritable premise, why then don't we give God the same consideration and at least work a bit to understand who He really is, if we hope to have relationship with Him? Many will say "Who are you to say who He is? How presumptuous." When these kind of people--and yes, there are many of them--say this, they are actually saying "I am a fool, for I presume that one cannot know who Go...

Speak of idolatry these days and you're sure to get a bemused glower, as if you just said Jack and the Beanstalk was a true story. "We're past that stage of human development" the thinking goes, mostly because we've all been told by World operatives who know that all that supernatural stuff is just personal interpretation. They should know, they tell us enough times on television and in the classroom. How could we not get it? Yes, silly me, "God" is just a mental construct, and idolatry just some backward religious nut's arrogant claim that his god is better than some other guy's. Only thing is... What if God were really God in real reality? And He actually had at least a spittle of interest in what people did with their understanding of Who He Is? Why do we care so much about what people think of who we are, authentically, but don't give God the same consideration? Yes, God will do just fine even with those who blow Him off. He's God, H...

Two items from Slate webzine caught my eye and are quite worth a mention. The first, from a discussion group colleague, is a current series on the concept of "lawbreaker tolerance." It is a fascinating look at the limitations of government in light of its responsibility to prosecute with summary execution. That work is here, "American Lawbreaking" by Columbia law professor Tim Wu . The second, a piece from a few years ago I came across in a search, is another man's take on the fact that there are so many Jesuses out there that knowing the real one is quite a puzzle. That is, unless you merely go talk to the real one. Alas, most people don't like talking to the real one because they fear the shocking discovery that He is so different from theirs. That piece is here, "Jesus Christ, Choose Your Own Personal Savior" by Chris Suellentrop . The two Slate pieces are intertwined in more ways than you may think. Even though government finds many ways, how...

On my Google page this morning was this verse from Ezekiel: "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." It is simple, God would like to be with you, living, forever, in sublime happiness. Problem, He doesn't want to do that with people who jerk Him around-- no one would want that from anyone. That jerking Him around is generally called sin, but you don't hear much of it these days because it is quite uncouth to mention it in mixed company. What people don't realize is that everyone has done that jerking around at some point in his or her life, and that jerking around thing is not as much an offense to God as it is to one another, here, among all us humans who also really don't like it much when those around us lie, cheat, steal, murder, whatever. So what is the issue with Ann Coulter essentially saying that the only way out of this body of death is through Jesus Christ, and that it doesn...

When Paul spoke about the body of death from which Christ freed him, it was clear that deception was woven through his turmoil. He essentially declared, "I do what I know I shouldn't." Christ is the one who gives power to do that which is authentic, or, that which is not deception. From this perspective I can't help but mention a number of news items that amplify the truth of the body of death that reigns in the World. Sure this could be an interminably long list, as it could every day in exposing the World's affairs. There are so many. But I'll just address these for now, and point out how little people see that which truly murders them in each story. Item : Bush claims the CIA doesn't use torture. Apparently a couple of internal memos were intercepted that said government interrogators use torture to get information. Democrats in Congress have vowed to pass an anti-torture bill. The Anti-Deception : The Agency of Cain has used, does use, and will use tor...

Tonight is the premiere of the top motion picture marketed out there for this weekend, "The Kingdom." It stars some Oscar-winning actors and it looks like it has a lot of brave-looking people firing weapons at terrorists of some stripe. I imagine the intended effect is to get all who watch it to shout with Homer Simpson, "U-S-A! U-S-A!" It has received rather tepid reviews so far. I'm paying attention to it simply because of the title of the film and the massive campaign to sell it. I've seen ads for the thing everywhere. Again, I'm just curious because certainly some are going to get some impression about what "The Kingdom" is, whether or not that is actually true. "The Kingdom" in this sense refers to the country of Saudi Arabia, which considers itself a kingdom. It has a king, princes, a royal family, all exerting great power in an oil-rich and terrorist-harboring region. It seems the movie has some intrigue and thrills, but from w...

In doing my web writing wherever that is-- webzine , blog, comments on some site somewhere about something-- I'm insanely devoted to the idea that I can get people to understand and know Christ by saying, "Hey, look at that foolish thing and see how foolish that is!" They would then see said foolish thing for being as abjectly foolish as it is, connect the dots, and find that any true fulfillment for any need or desire can only ultimately be found in Him. I even heard a radio show this morning on the Los Angeles hyper-libertarian station KPFK called "Connect the Dots." They always have someone on who rails against some Power-That-Be as oppressing the poor disadvantaged disenfranchised whatever Power-Back-To-The-People type. They seem to think that displacing the despised Power with their adored Power is going to liberate all and bring joyous utopia. "Connect the dots!" they say, but then when they profess their "final solution," I always wond...

Larry Kudlow is a top talking head, offering financial blab across the airwaves. I think he's got a show on CNBC. He was on Hugh Hewitt's drive-time radio show the other day and they were bantering about the latest economic item of interest-- the severe poking at the housing bubble. So fiercely did Kudlow make the case that the Fed lower interest rates that it amplified the truth that the Fed is quite the law enforcer. I can bet that every Federal Reserve Chairman through history (these days it is Ben Bernanke) has certainly lost count of the number of times he has had to smile nervously as he is asked to crack heads in any number of institutionalized ways to pull back on the abject misassessment of value among Catholicist Nation inhabitants. Kudlow said his recommendation about what the Fed do is the "shock and awe" approach, and he cried "Come on-- stop the deflation ." The deflation here refers to the precipitous drop in home values through the collapse o...

Virtually every news orifice out there is showcasing their polls on Iraq, this on the eve of top U.S. general-in-Iraq David Petraeus' report tomorrow-- I think it's tomorrow. What they're asking are things like "What do you think about our progress in Iraq?" and "Do you think Petraeus will give an accurate assessment of things?" Really, what should be asked is, "What do believe about what the media spews at you?" It blows my mind that so many have something to say about things they just haven't the faintest idea about. "38% say this, while 57% say that." It reminds me of an Onion piece that I just have to provide a link for here . Oh cynical me. Thing is, as I was peeking around a bit at the worship of the God David Petraeus (remember, even the most zealous detractors of everything "Bush" are themselves some of the most pious devotees), it came upon me how to precisely say what Ellen Tauscher is actually saying when she ...

U.S. Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher said this after listening to testimony about progress in Iraq. It was so notable to the Los Angeles Times that it was used as a pull quote in today's print edition. "I no longer can believe almost anything I'm told." I looked at this and first thought, wow, she's got it. She understands that anything government says cannot be trusted, for government is by function an operation that must use deception to do its job of prosecution. Maybe she'll decide she doesn't want to be a part of that body of death any more and will seek to enter the Kingdom. Nah. I read the quote a second time and it is quite symptomatic of the way World operatives themselves operate. This is beside the point that if the statement "There is falsehood here" is uttered by such an operative-- and Tauscher is such an individual-- then that itself cannot be trusted. What she says reveals something quite profound, for it is in the context of exactly...

I ran up to the corner market to get a quart of milk this morning and for some reason my radio was tuned to a country station. I don't usually listen to country, but I have a bit of admiration for it because the music can be rich in visceral expression. I also worked as a remote engineer at KSON in San Diego when going to school. Of course I'd never heard this song before, this one something about being somewhere between raisin' hell and amazin' grace, it may be wildly popular-- I just don't know. But it did make me think of the Catholicist Nation and the way people behave in it. This is it, that's for sure. Go off and "raise hell" then come back and get some grace. Over and over and over and over and over and over again . This is just not the way it was from the beginning, to loosely quote Jesus when asked about divorce. Sure people want to "raise hell" in whatever self-or-other-destructive way that is because of the abject emotional pain of...

Everyone has a daddy. No I'm not talking about your biological father, but someone very daddy-like that you follow. For someone who chooses not to follow Christ, that daddy is a racketeer of some stripe. That's the very essense of what the whole question is about. "Who's your daddy?" is a lot easier than asking "To whom to you pay indulgences?" or "To whom do you assign the management of your evildoing?" I've written my latest home page webzine piece on this very issue, and it is at The Catholicist Nation if you're interested in reading more. I must say that there is so much to write about in addressing use of the law by a racketeer, that I had to leave so much out. One of the things I simply couldn't get in there that is worth mentioning is the fact that Frederic Bastiat used God to make much of his case against what he called "perversion" of the law. I agree fully (and say as much in the piece) that God made us each wit...

I want to point out a couple of items out there. If Christ has dropped the scales from your eyes and you can actually see the counterfeit from the real, these may actually be edifying. If not, they'll serve to drop you deeper into the World muck, but hey, that may actually be a good thing if you get tired of it and ask for a Hand out. At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art over there on Wilshire Boulevard, there is a fantastic exhibit of Roman Catholic promotional pieces , brilliantly works of art designed to keep "New World" peoples in the System. They were commissioned from the time of Columbus to the early-19th century. Definitely check it out. (It goes until October 28, 2007.) Over at the best apologetics radio show there is-- at least for now until there is one that actually is not a 501c3 and beholden to the World as Stand to Reason is-- host Greg Koukl interviewed fellow apologist and recent Roman Catholic convert Frank Beckwith about his "change of mind....

On the way to work this morning, heard a news report that announced a lot of victims of the Catholic Church priest sex abuse scandal were upset about things so much that they were going to meet with Cardinal Roger Mahoney to really get down to business. To take some dramatic steps to get to the bottom of things. Very very serious steps. They were going to ask him some questions. "We want answers, mister! We want to know what's going on! We want the truth!" Ever hear this before? I have. A zillion times. Problem. If they actually asked someone who would tell them the truth, they'd go, "Nah. That's not it." And then go on talking with their puppet Jesus. Every single person starts out with a puppet Jesus. This is something each individual converses with about the things that matter. The puppeteer asks, "So what is the truth about things?" and then the puppet Jesus answers. Oh it doesn't have to be anything like Jesus. A common one is, "S...

Yesterday I made note of the turmoil some Catholicists are enduring over the priest sexual abuse scandal. Thought about the question, "What to do?" Here are some variations of that question, and some ideas for answers. 1. "Why doesn't the Catholic Church get rid of Roger Mahoney?" Some radio talk show guys here in Southern California have referred to him as "Don Corleone" Mahoney. They certainly get that part. What they don't get is that whoever they replace him with will just continue to do the same things. Oh yes the Catholic Church may fire him to make itself look good, and his successor will certainly paste smiles all over his face while sprinkling in a few firm "This won't happen on my watch" pronouncements. But he'll still be the duly ordained agent of Cain, using extreme deceptive arts to manage the sin of those under his charge. 2. "Why don't Carl Marziali and his wife go somewhere else themselves for religious gr...

Yesterday I made reference to an opinion piece that appeared in the Los Angeles Times that is quite typical of the confusion a good Catholicist has when he is brutally exposed to the truth about the Church. That truth has been quite splattered across the news, but both the befuddlement and the truth have been around for millennia. Yes, there is indeed nothing new under the sun. The only thing that would be new in any of this is the liberating realization of what it all means. It blows me away that people who so brashly proclaim how much they know and how much they are above it all will never go beyond the "I'm simply mystified stage" regarding why Cardinal Roger Mahoney is still running the LA Archdiocese. "I'm just mystified. I can't see how this guy who covered up all the sexual abuse is still in office. I'm mystified. Aren't you? You are too? Yeah, so am I. Mystified." Really, have you ever heard anyone say why he is still there? It's har...

This opinion piece appeared in today's Los Angeles Times, hot off the presses as the Catholic priest sexual abuse settlement is still steamin.' It is a story that has been told before a gazillion times by equally disconsolate people, but rarely with the commensurate resolution. Thing is, I don't have a lick of time tonight to address that here, but you can get a hint from my last blog post. You can also get the full treatment from the Bible, it's all there, the complete and thorough resolution, but so few people read it with the intent to actually find it there, that it may not matter what I say anytime here. Anyway, until tomorrow.

Recently the pope made more official some official declarations that the Roman Catholic Church has been officially making for centuries. When they do this it gets some media attention, mostly because so many chafe at the fact that the Roman Catholic Church is claiming to be the one true church. A mainstream news take on it all is here at the Los Angeles Times . What irritates people is that the church gets all puffy about how you can't earn God's favor or go to heaven or be a good person without the Roman Catholic Church. To keep from being too intolerant the church will say things like other institutions are means to grace or they are respected communities of belief and all the rest of it. But it still holds: The Roman Catholic Church is the true church . Want to know something? They're right . Yes. It's true. They are correct: The Roman Catholic Church is the one single true ecclesiastical body. They can make such a firmly veritable proclamation about this s...

Isn't it interesting that now that the subject of immigration is dead in Congress, it is nowhere in the news. Once the gods of the Catholicist have stopped making it an issue, it doesn't much matter any more. Over the two weeks since I posted my take on immigration, I thought I'd amplify a couple of things. I'm really adding nothing new; in fact, nothing I write is new, at least this is my goal. That may seem counterintuitive-- you'd think I'd want to be putting up stuff that's new and fascinating , after all, that is kind of the idea behind a blog, isn't it?-- "What's new that Dave has found out?!..." The fact is, my goal is to be about as redundant as possible--redundant about the word of God that is. If it isn't already in there, then what I'm saying may go against that. So please, challenge me about what I say and tell me if it isn't already in His word. I want to know. Anyway, back to the immigration thing-- I thought I...

The reality of non-profit activity becomes more and more pronounced as I look around with an inquisitive mind. I will tell you that I am graciously open to learning as much as I can about these operations. Some of those things seemed to jump out this week, and I thought I'd share them with you. 1. On July 4th I was visiting with some of my wife's family, and her aunt asked us if we'd like to come to the Lotus Festival in Los Angeles this weekend. This festival is a big do-up for intercultural stuff, and she is a top director of some kind. Interestingly she brought up that they had recently formed a non-profit in order to raise money for the affair. After she told me what the festival was about, I asked her if a detailed explanation of all that was included in the application for non-profit status, you know, so the government knows that it's all for a good cause. She said, "Oh no, what we do is put together bylaws. We have to let them know how we operate, so everyon...

The political idiots were out in great numbers today, and while what I saw just about made me want to hock my lungs, I still weep for the abject folly that still sweeps through this land. First, the widely debated Senate immigration bill did not get the procedural vote to move forward. It blows my mind that so many say so much about it, but no one ever says why it failed. I honestly don't think they can because they just haven't the teensiest of clues as to what that could be . I wrote about about what I think it is on my webzine's most recent home page article, which is here . Second, a debate/forum-type thing was held for the Democratic party's presidential nominees at Howard University, a prominently black college. Needless to say the entire tone was about what these candidates would do for "people of color" if elected. The very first question was essentially "What will you do with the issue of race?" and the convenient springboard was today'...

Everyone waited with great anticipation as the Senate today-- pause for suspense-- passed the "Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to Consider S. 1639, Comprehensive Immigration Reform"! (Hearty applause from the gallery) Ahem. What this blap does is permit the debate to drag on for what will ultimately be a completely futile effort to manage the immigration issue. Doesn't matter what happens, the bill passes or not, it's pointless. I've devoted my latest home page piece to the real meaning of it all, and if you'd like to look in on it, it is here .

An AP teacher in the College Board's email forum sent this out to everyone. A link to the "U.S. Budget Poster." There it is in all its glory, every discretionary expenditure of the federal government, graphically resplendent for all to see. Note that you can zoom in and peek around. It is at http://www.thebudgetgraph.com/poster/ What struck me is that the very first word at the top left corner, bright and large, is quite the appropriate term for what a World System tribute truly is, a human sacrifice operation in which huge shards of value are hacked off of productive individuals. Do you see it there? That term... DEATH. A bit more on human sacrifice is here .

A recent front page article in the Los Angeles Times featured the efforts of some in the pro-life camp who want to do away with all abortions completely once-and-for-all forever and ever in all cases. They're called the absolutists in the abortion battle. The perception of them is quite common: "Ooo, those evil absolutists , they always think in black-and-white terms about whatever it is they believe in. They're just a bunch of intolerant extremists ." Um, ahem, do you believe that, absolutely ? Is this the extreme version of what you think about absolutism or just the pointless mealy-mouthed one we shouldn't pay any attention to? The article speaks about the minority of pro-lifers who actively denounce the beaming endorsements of such government rulings as the upholding of the ban on partial-birth abortions. They do so for a number of reasons, among them the way the incrementalist approach still condemns thousands of babies to death, and the qualifications in t...