Modern-Day Slavery in America

Slavery has had a long and storied history in America, many people believing that it is dead and buried, perhaps ending with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, or perhaps believing that slavery was really over after the passage of the Thirteenth through the Fifteenth Amendments soon after the Civil War, or for some people, perhaps the seminal moment when we knew that slavery and the vestiges of slavery was eradicated from America, was when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.  Unfortunately, despite all the progress that America has made against slavery over the last two hundred odd years, slavery still exists in America, but has morphed into something that has adjusted with the times, and those that are treated as modern-day slaves in today's America, aren't typically black or African in their heritage, but Hispanics, primarily from Mexico, or from Central America, Spanish speaking, and typically seen by the law, authorities, and employment agencies, as illegal aliens to be exploited.

For Hispanics in America, there is a huge dividing line, between Hispanics that have already been assimilated, normalized, or native-born, and the like, as compared to those that are most definitely illegal border jumpers, in debt to "coyotes", poorly educated and/or functionally illiterate, have poor English language skills, and often hold forged or makeshift documents to identify themselves.  As you might expect, in a country built around a capitalistic footprint, which is also often highly competitive in select industries, and recognizing too that the cost of labor, health care, and the training of employees will make an appreciable difference in the profitability of said company, therefore there are explicit as well as implicit reasons why certain companies are overjoyed to have a segment of the labor force that is susceptible to giving in to the demands of management and consequently excellent subjects for labor exploitation. 

While some may argue that illegal aliens can't be considered to be slaves, simply because they voluntarily cross the border into our sovereign nation, this is a very mistaken notion.  For instance, who but illegal Hispanics, as agricultural workers, for example, are subject as a matter of course, of being not paid a fair wage for their labor, or of being paid less that contracted for or nothing at all because they that "employ" them recognize that Hispanics when it comes to the payment of a wage have little or no power to fight back, and further that Hispanics can be charged essentially whatever management wants to charge them for room and board, tools, food, water, and also to subtract from their wages any damages or product loss that may have occurred.   

Illegal aliens are exploited in America, day in and day out, because the exploitation is at best, in that "gray area" of the law and employment, and at worse, outright thievery.  While some may decry the sheer numbers of illegal immigrants in America, those in the know, embrace them, because their very business model depends on cheap, replaceable, and exploitable labor.  The real reason behind why there is such a huge inflow of modern-day slaves into America is because there is profit in it, enough profit to spread it around so that those that could stop it, don't; and those that rely on it, get what they need.

Islam and Radical Islam

Islam is supposed to mean the initiate's submission to the will of God and also his surrender and obedience to His law.  Whereas radical Islam takes elements of the Islamic religion itself, and under that color, commits atrocities that these adherents purport to believe to be the will of God, but this cannot be morally right.  Radical Islam believes for the most part, that apostasy to Islam is worthy of death, further that those that are of a different religion or of a different culture, may too be worthy of death, additionally Radical Islam often makes it a point of policy to kill or maim even children and other innocents in the name of their terror, and finally that women of their own religion, of their own bloodline, should be effectively treated as captives within their own religion, dictated to by the structure of radical Islam.

While it is not unusual for religions or certain cabals of people to have their factions that are radical, or even terroristic in nature, it is wrong, morally wrong, and also against the rule of Law, for these people or factions of people to assert their "justice" against others.  When confronted with this type of rogue behavior, there are myriad ways to deal with the issues than presented; in regards to radical Islam, the confrontation that is necessary should come from those that have the most to lose from the corruption and the bastardization of their religion, and that is Islam, itself.

It is common sense to understand that when something that is important to you, perhaps the very essence of your being is being dragged through the mud, and becoming something that you know that it is not, that a righteous stand must be made against those that besmirch it.  It has been said that for evil to triumph, you need just have good to step aside.  Islam cannot afford to have their religion hi-jacked by agents or States that do not represent what Islam should truly represent, so by doing little or nothing to prevent this corruption of a religion which has over 1.6 billion adherents, those that believe Islam to be a religion of faith, fasting, and charitable giving will instead believe that their religion is one of vengeance and horror, to which all can be subjected to its awesome avenging sword at any time.

Those of the Islamic faith should make it a point and an abiding principle that those that hide behind Islam to justify their evil actions against others should be publicly rebuked and treated as outcasts to the faith.  Islam believes at its very foundation that there cannot be any other God, but God, so it should not be possible to have such widely divergent views of what God represents from so many different people who all claim to be of the same basic faith.  For instance, Christianity itself has many sects that are not in accordance with all doctrines of their faith, but fundamentally all of those of Christian faith believe that as part of that faith one should "… love thy neighbor as thyself."  Islam too believes that "A kind word and forgiveness is better than charity followed by injury…"  

Physician, heal thyself.

Domestic Violence in the NFL

The Associated Press selected the NFL Domestic Violence problem as the sports story of the year in 2014.  This would presuppose that there really is a crisis of epic proportions for domestic violence in the NFL, which certainly appears credible considering that in the biggest game of the year, the Super Bowl, a domestic violence ad was run as part of a Public Service Announcement.  However, as reported by fivethirtyeight.com in regards to the NFL:  "In fact, the arrest rate for domestic violence is lower among players than the general U.S. population."  There then appears to be a significant disconnect between the actual conduct of NFL players, specifically in regards to amount of domestic violence actually committed as opposed to the impression that domestic violence by NFL players is on the verge of an epidemic, and/or is an issue that needs to be addressed as if it is a catastrophe in the making.

The question that therefore should really be asked is why is the domestic violence in the NFL, a front page issue, as statistically it doesn’t merit this being so.  First off, according to heavy.com: "68 percent of NFL players are African-American," whereas in regards to ownership of the franchises, 31 of the 32 owners are white, with only one owner non-white, Shahid Khan, a Pakistani.   Further to this point, the vast majority of head coaches as well as the general managers for NFL teams are also white.   So in the NFL, we have a sport that is predominantly populated by black players, but with virtually all the important and vital management positions held by whites.  Additionally, each one of the NFL franchises is worth at a minimum nearly one billion dollars, with the highest worth franchise being calculated at just over three billion dollars.  Further to the point, the Super Bowl game is annually the highest rated television program in America, as well as the NFL broadcasts consistently bring in high television ratings throughout the NFL season.  All of the above spells out what matters most to those that are most influential and powerful in the NFL, which is money, and the continued control of their product.

Since, in fact, domestic violence in the NFL is not a crisis, nor on the verge of becoming a crisis, one must wonder as to what is the true purpose behind this firestorm of specific media interest directed against NFL players.  The answer to this question is that those that are in power in the NFL want to keep their boot upon the necks of their players, as if the players themselves were their personal property of the contractual owners of such, so as to dictate to the players what isn't or is considered to be desirable behavior on and off the field, with the implicit understanding that failure to do so will as a matter of course negate the player's salary, respect, and hero status to society at large.  Simply put, domestic violence in the NFL is really a false flag created by ownership in order to allow them to maintain control and status of their valuable product, and thereby to place players in the position of total obedience to the dictates of the NFL, or suffer dearly the consequences for veering outside the designated lines.

Consumption and Excise are the Best Taxes

Americans are taxed on their labor, and probably will continue to be taxed on their labor for the foreseeable future, but this isn't necessarily the fairest or the best way to tax people.  Being taxed on one's labor just seems obnoxious, as is essentially taking food from the mouth of the one that has created it, and transferring it to the State or some other agent of the State without first giving the person that has labored any choice or voice in the matter.  In an ideal world, a man should be able to keep what he has rightfully earned and not have to be compelled to pay a fee to the State for having done so. 

However, it is understood, that governments need revenue to perform their duties, but there are myriad ways for government to fund and to collect that revenue.  The best and fairest type of tax would seem to be consumption and excise taxes for the basic reason that the individual can make the choice as to whether they wish to consume or purchase a product or not, and that those that consume more, will for a certainty, pay more overall in taxes.  America currently has excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, gasoline, and airfares, to name some of the most prevalent, to which the excise tax is both typically hidden from the consumer (that is the amount of the tax is typically not separately shown as part of the selling price), as well as the excise tax percentage varies depending upon the good as well as whether it is considered to be "sinful" or similar.  Excise taxes are an excellent way to raise revenue for governments, especially when they are applied to items that are discretionary as opposed to things that are necessary.  Another reason why excise taxes are a preferred method of taxation is that taxes that are hidden from plain view are more easily accepted by the population at large, simply because they aren't as obvious as, for instance, a sales tax to which at the time that the transaction is actually made, the price of said item is now greater, because sales tax has been added.

In America, most non-food items are subject to sales tax in States that charge a sales tax, to which most consumers see the sales tax as simply being the cost of doing business and have consequently grown use to it.  Because the sales tax is only applied to items that you purchase, the customer is still the master as to whether they wish to spend their hard-earned monies on said items or not.  Additionally, the typical one-price fits all type of sales tax rate that we currently have, could easily be modified, so that certain items or even price points could be created, leading to different or  tiered or higher sales tax percentage rates depending upon the actual item being purchased.  In this age of computers and barcodes, making these sorts of adjustments to the sales tax code, should be something that could be readily managed and at the same time be constructive in recognizing that not all articles should have the same sales tax percentage applied to it.

While it is true that nobody really likes to pay taxes, consumption and excise taxes are a fairer way to tax people on their actions and their choices, as opposed to taxing people on their toil and without choice.

Americans Do Not Know How Good They've Got It

I have criticized America and its institutions on many occasions and for many reasons, but not because I hate her, but on the contrary because I dearly love America and for that which it truly stands.  The thing is there isn't any real point in criticizing the lame, the inept, the weak, and the feeble-minded, because you know that their overall potential is rather limited, so you owe these people instead your compassion and your care; whereas for the strong, the mighty, those of superior intellect and abilities, when they disappoint you and fail to live up to their heritage and their potential by their pettiness, by their short-sightedness's, by their cheating, and by their lying, these you will criticize, because you have expected so much more from them and they haven't yet delivered on it.  So that when you study America, you are distressed at all the mistakes that she makes, in its unnecessary middling in foreign affairs and wars, in its' shameful spying of its own citizens, in its over-incarceration of its own citizens, and its unwillingness to lift the lamp at its golden door.

Yet through it all this is still the greatest country on earth, because at its foundation, at its very being, is the rock-core principles that this is a country that has been gifted with the knowledge that indeed all men are created equal, and through its long history, America has walked down this path of true equality, during which there have been times that she has stumbled, backtracked,  veered off the true path, but also she has inexorably through the bravery and the vision of so many, walked the path, that no other country has walked, and has lived the creed, that embraces all men, of all colors, of all walks of life, in a way that brings honor to this nation and has proven that those that have died defending her, have not died in vain.

America too is a nation of liberty, allowing its people to live lives of their own choosing and of their own desire, to worship in their own way, to think their own thoughts, to do their own deeds, and to become what they dream to become.  In far too many countries, where you are born, and who you are born to, sets the limits on which you will become, whereas in America, one has the liberty to break free from such constraints.  Certainly, we do not all start with the same attributes, but each of us is given the opportunity to be the master of our own fate, or the captain of our own ship.

Finally, in America, we can pursue our own happiness, because we are given the freedom of choice to do so.  For some, that happiness that we pursue may be instead an illusion, or a dead-end, or rife with perils that we had not anticipated, but nevertheless it is our pursuit, it is ours, because we have made it so with our free will, rather than being forced to be or do something by the dictates of the State.  For Americans, our happiness, our liberty, and our freedom, is held within our own hands, within our own efforts, our own blood, our own labor, our own sweat, our own tears, and may it ever be so.

William Seward and Immigration

Immigration and its policies when it comes to Americans and who should be allowed to immigrate to America and to subsequently become American citizens has been a subject of much controversy since the inception of America itself.  For whatever reason, for a significant portion of Americans, there is an unforgiving attitude and bigoted mindset against "others" that wish to immigrate to this large land known for its opportunity, its freedom, and its liberty.  Yet, unless you are an American Indian, you, and your ancestors are in fact, immigrants to this nation, so this begs the question as to why the hypocrisy.

William Seward, was once the Governor of New York, later to become a US Senator, and was known as a strong abolitionist with national goals of becoming President of this country.  Ultimately, Seward failed to win the nomination for President in 1860, ended up becoming a strong supporter of Lincoln, and became Lincoln's Secretary of State.  Seward was a highly intelligent man, a man of both principle as well as vision, who did not mix words in believing strongly and affirming in both speech as well as actions, that all men should be free in America, and that therefore slavery had no place in America.  It then followed from these abolitionist policies that Seward was also very much a believer that America was a country for all peoples, that those immigrants to our country, should be educated, adapted to our ways, and be given the opportunity to participate as full members of this nation.

Seward believed that the national government of America was until the time of Lincoln, primarily in the hands of the "privileged class" which he designated as rich Southern slaveholders that distorted the true meaning of our Constitution, by their effective ruling power and meddling influence in all three branches of our national government.  Seward was a rare politician who did not broker compromise in areas of the law or principle, to which he felt that a "Higher Law" superseded them all.  It was this belief that helped to define the man and make it his policy to see that immigrants to America were given and afforded the same opportunities as those that were already here. 

It was also during the time of our Civil War, that it was recognized by Seward as well as by others, that immigration would help the Union cause, as so many of our young men and materials were now actively engaged in the war, and with the subsequent loss of massive numbers of men that were killed or injured in battle, this need became ever greater. This meant that the North acknowledged that it needed additional labor to increase the manufacturing of goods as well as materials required for the war effort, in addition to agricultural knowhow and labor to produce the food products necessary for a nation to survive and to sustain itself.  Since the North was no longer obtaining agricultural products from the South, it was critical for the North to provide this for themselves, to which they took advantage of the fertile fields of the Midwest, and with the help of new immigrants from European countries they were well able to do so.

Seward recognized before its time, the value and importance of immigrants to America, and recognized too that it was the character of the people residing within America, that made Americans, and not every American born within our borders, was, in fact, truly American in their understanding of their duty and obligations to their country as well as to its people.

The Exploitation of the Poor and Powerless

It has never been easier to exploit the poor and powerless than it is in today's world.  That doesn't mean, that in modern society that conditions for poor people are the worst of all-time, they aren't physically for the most part, but it does mean that the elite of the world, recognizing the massive numbers of people that are impoverished, are best seen as resources to be exploited and plundered, and despite the fact that the sheer numbers of poor people massively outweighs the relatively few numbers of the oligarchy, the battle is not fair, not equal, and almost entirely favors the ruling class.

In order to keep any population down there are basic factors that the autocracy must have in their control and for the most part they have these very things such as their ownership or heavy influence of the media, the police/military, the justice system, property, food, assets, and the banking world.  In most countries, poor people have no real access to weapons that the police or that the military have in their possession, and even if poor people have handguns and the like, their overall firepower is pathetically small in comparison to the might, organization, experience, logistics, and the power of the police/military state.  Additionally, if all land is own by the government or it is controlled by elite privileged people, than poor people have no sanctuary anywhere, to protect themselves from the ravishing of the government set upon them.  So too, unless you are self-sufficient in providing food for your family through hunting or gathering, the State will hold you hostage to the availability of food, safe water, and other necessities needed to just survive.  Through it all, if the media and/or airwaves are controlled or heavily influenced by the State, than the misinformation disseminated to you, will be manipulated in such a way as to try to keep you passive and complacent with the State's desires.

There are those that naively believe that because there are so many poor people, that a democratic uprising can occur, so that the people can get what is rightfully theirs.  The fact of the matter is, unless, you have a great moral cause, or unless you somehow are able to appeal to the good conscience of those that hold power above you, that the people enacting such an uprising are inevitably crushed.  The few times when there is an apparent passing of power from the oligarchy to the "people", through some sort of revolution or whatnot, the "people" often find that to their dismay when they "meet the new boss,  [it's the} same as the old boss," and they will get fooled again and again. 

The government is force, and until such time when that the government relinquishes such force, the boot of the State upon the necks of the people, will be felt.  Some governments make sure that the people are held in utmost abjection and misery, while others do a much better job of selling the illusion that the streets may yet be paved with gold.  The governments that last longer are the ones that make the virtual prisons that they keep the poor people in, relatively comfortable, with few demands, and a few false flags for them to rally around, hoping that the impoverished believe that this is some sort of freedom, when it is, in fact, dependence. 

Respect for the Law Derives from Respect for the Law-Giver

No man, nor any institution, government or likewise, is an island all to itself, all of us, throughout life must interact with the other, in one form or another.  These interactions begin at an early age, to which children learn in many aspects and avenues from their parents and other authority figures as they mature through the years.  We are taught in the Bible to: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).  However, the problem that is encountered by many parents as well as by others serving as parental or authority-like figures is that the training of a child is not just the words that are spoken to them, but also the actions behind those words, along with the actions of that person in their day-to-day comportment that spoke those words, as well as the character of the person so speaking and acting.

It has been said that children are like sponges, absorbing all that they see being enacted in front of them, day-by-day, so that if the words spoken to children are in contradiction to the actions of the people speaking said words, children will absorb this inherent contradiction.  For instance, if the father demands that his child is obedient and respectful towards the child's mother, while at the same time that father treats his wife with the utmost contempt and belittling disrespect himself, you will discover, sooner or later, that the child will often pick up the same traits of the father itself.  While the father may dictate respect for his law, the respect given to in return, will often be mitigated by the respect that child has for the law-giver. For example, if the father has a significant drinking problem, which is obvious to all, despite his words to the effect that he will not tolerate his children drinking or abusing drugs and so forth, he will often find to his dismay that his words will fall on hollow ears.  In this situation, as in many situations, it is the actions themselves that triumph over the words that are spoken.

Then too there are positive situations, to which, role models or parental figures are gracious, kind, patient, loving, and considerate in their actions and are known as being self-sacrificing, self-effacing, and moral in their character, both outside the home as well as inside the home.  While it is certainly possible, that children growing up in this type of environment, will end up being selfish, controlling, and ugly in their manner as well as their ways, if often can be said that the apple does not fall far from the tree. 

Taking this further, to our daily life and our interactions with government and employers, it follows that it is not too much of a stretch of the imagination to state that if our government is spying on its citizens, is double-dealing and underhanded, unfair, inconsistent, unjust, and corrupt in its actions, that its denizens, will probably not be exactly paragons of virtue.  It follows too, that if your employer consistently cheats or deceives its customers that you as an employee, will probably want to follow suit in doing the same with your employer. 

The problem with simplistic statements such as "obey the law" is that it is fundamentally flawed; obedience and respect for the law can only come from laws that are in harmony with true justice, truth, and fairness equally applied to all.

Property Taxes II

Different counties and different States have different rules and procedures for the collection of property taxes.  Property taxes are generally assessed against the "estimated present assessed value of the property in question for the latest fiscal year", but that assessment can often be widely divergent depending upon a multitude of factors.  Additionally to this unfortunate fact, not every piece of property pays its "fair" share or even any share of their property tax obligation.  For instance, it is routine for non-profit property owners not to pay taxes, as it is for churches, governmental buildings, and educational buildings, amongst various other entities.  There are also exemptions or special tax set asides for certain for-profit corporations that as part of their agreement for locating a building within a certain county, make this a negotiated condition of their doing so.  Then there are certain people that earn exemptions or elimination of property taxes because they are veterans, or of a certain age group such as senior citizens, or clergymen, or the like.  The only possible conclusion upon reading the foregoing and recognizing the value of this information, is that the property tax field, like so many taxes in the United States, is a very unlevel playing field, with uneven rules, and uneven application.  The upshot of this is that the burden for making up for those that do not pay property taxes for whatever reason is stuck upon the shoulders of those that do not have those same privileges or exemptions.  Making matters worse, is that property taxes is the foundation upon which local counties depends upon in order to make their budget, so that the powers to be within counties have a vested interest in extracting and collecting as much property tax as they can wrest away from their residents without accidently inciting and igniting a powerful fire of protest. 

The thing about property taxes is that upon the buying of, for example, residential property, there is an absolute known price of what that property is worth at the time and specific date of that sale, because both parties to a sale, have a vested interest in seeing that the deal is acceptable to both.  However, once that sale is made, it is a process of guesswork, some educated and some not, to determine the real present value of that property, to which tax assessors, rely heavily on factual information in regards to the property, such as the square footage, construction type, the age of the dwelling, the amount of stories, garage, acreage, and so forth.  They will also periodically come out to the property, describing themselves as a "data collector" to snap pictures of the outside of your structure.  From all of the foregoing, along with recent comparable sales within your neighborhood area, if applicable, the property tax assessor comes up with an assessment for your property.  There are, however, fundamental flaws within this system.  The first and most obvious flaw is that you really don't know how much a given property will sell for until it is actually sold; we know this because products all over America in every conceivable form are sold for a "discounted" price each and every day.  The second basic flaw is that you should not judge a property from a cursory glance of its outside features, this is common sense, as the amount of people that purchase a home without doing a real home inspection of their interior, its condition, and its infrastructure, is few and far between. 

When a purchase is made of a residential home, banks are often willing to extend to that qualified person, a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, which means that the buyer will know his payments for a certainty over the next 30 years to that mortgage company.  Under the present system, in many counties and States within America, you will not know your future obligations for that home for property taxes, a tax which is compulsory, unless you are so fortunate as to have an exemption, and this property tax amount will be primarily controlled by government bureaucrats.    In essence, this type of tax system is rife for corruption, unfairness, and unequal treatment to which it is always the "unconnected", the uninformed, and the passive believers, that are stuck paying more than their fair share in taxes to the taxman.

Mary Magdalene - the True Rock of our Faith

When it comes to name of Mary in the New Testament, it can become confusing as to which Mary the gospel is referring to in regards to certain passages, since we have so many, of which all of them are important.  We have Mary -- the mother of Jesus, Mary -- the mother of James, the other Mary, Mary of Clopas, Mary -- the sister of Martha, Mary -- mother of Joses, and Mary Magdalene.  Mary Magdalene is referred to in all four gospels in the New Testament, as well as having her own Gnostic book, known as the Gospel of Mary.  At Christ's crucifixion, Mary Magdalene was present, as she was also present during his burial, and later it was that Mary Magdalene was first to discover that the tomb to which Jesus had been laid to rest was empty, and it was also Mary Magdalene that first encountered and recognized the risen Christ, and was spoken to by Him and spoke to Him who had risen.    This makes Mary Magdalene a unique persona in the gospel of Christ, yet, her vital importance is tinged with the mistaken correlation that it was Mary Magdalene that had been a former prostitute, although there is nothing in the gospel that actually reflects this, in fact, In Luke 8:2, we read that Christ cast out "seven demons" from her, and that was that; still there are many that believe that she is also the person that anointed the Master's feet and was considered a sinner, although this person is clearly not Mary Magdalene.

It is quite unfortunate, that history has mistakenly painted Mary Magdalene as a former prostitute, because this supposed fact is simply not supported by the gospels, or by the apocryphal texts, or by anything of real substance.  Because of Mary Magdalene's tainted reputation, her importance and her devotion, as well as the clear love and respect that Christ had for her, is lost, which is quite unfortunate, because unlike any of the chosen, it is Mary Magdalene that understands and truly comprehends the Master unlike any other.  It is also Mary Magdalene that never once forsakes or turns away from Jesus, unlike Peter, who denies our Lord, not once, but thrice within the span of a few hours, to save his own skin, despite Peter having given his word to our Lord, that he would never forsake Him.

It is of utmost importance to recognize that it was Mary Magdalene, and no other, that was there both at Christ's physical death, as well as it was Mary Magdalene that first acknowledged the risen and glorified Christ and was instructed by the risen Christ to "…Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them…" (John 20:17).  Further to this point, in the apocryphal Book of Mary, we read that: "Peter said to Mary, Sister we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of woman. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them. Mary answered and said, what is hidden from you I will proclaim to you." (Mary 5:5-7).

Mary Magdalene's actions  and obedience while Christ was alive, and during the crucifixion of our Lord, as well as the glorious day of his resurrection, demonstrate that it was Mary Magdalene that best understood and was able to testify to the true meaning of the risen Christ; that true knowledge comes from Light and that this knowledge can never be destroyed, that it is our duty to proclaim the truth and the light, and further that there should never be fear of those that can kill the body, because we are not our body, we are the immortal soul, co-heirs to God almighty himself.

Google Glass and the Police State

Google's motto is "don't be evil", a motto that Google has never and will never live up to. Google's motto is at best, misdirection, and at worse, the exact opposite of what Google actually represents.  Take for instance, the development of Google Glass, a device that is wearable as an integral component attached to a person's eyeglass frame that records everything within its field of vision, to which this recording is capable of being transmitted in "real -time" to a designated receiving station so as to allow those people stationed remotely to analyze that video for their own purposes, including but not limited to correlating that video with a comprehensive facial recognition database that will identify persons within the viewfinder.  This, my friend, is the type of device that police stations and authoritarian regimes salivate to get their hands upon, a device that will allow them to track, correlate, and to apprehend peoples that the State desires to harass, to intimidate, arrest, or to do deliberate harm to. 

Although Google glass was ostensibly created for certain privileged people by Google, it is also a product that because of its inherent intrusiveness but relatively benign appearance is easily translatable to police departments.  Google glass, far from being a device that is a servant to the people, is essentially a device that was created as a "stalking horse" for police agencies, to which the true objective of implementing Google glass is to generate both publicity as well as favorable feedback through the media and social media, before its intended purpose, is released, which is to make normal the usage of this dangerous device into the hands of police agencies throughout America. 

While it is true that police departments often using recording devices, those devices to date, have not been "smart" devices, that is to say, that they simply record, while Google Glass on the other hand, is a smart device, that has a user-actuated touchpad that can launch specific apps, and those apps can be directed to disseminate specific information about people, using facial recognition, or information via a person's driver's license to ascertain in real-time as to whether that person has an outstanding warrant or other applicable actionable data, or an automobile's license plate number to determine whether that vehicle has any violations associated with it, and so forth.

To make matters even worse, for citizens of America, it is not a bridge too far to take today's passive recording devices that are located at key intersections and the like, and to strategically replace these with devices akin to Google's glass, that enable operators behind the scenes to thereby train these devices upon citizens and their artifacts in such a manner, as to obtain actionable information against citizens, and thereby to act upon them. 

The problem with Google glass in a private citizen's hand, especially those of a somewhat "nerdy" or scientific type, may not be that much of a problem, as long as they are both easily identifiable and it is also clearly established when they are actually recording, because they may very well not desire to be or to do evil, and hopefully, when confronted or questioned, they will, as matter of courtesy and common humanity, turn the device off when requested to do so.  The police, on the other hand, and their affiliates, will turn off, edit, erase, manipulate, and destroy recordings only when it impugns them and their viewpoint, and will never be satiated in their lust to record all and to process all, because to them, we are all the enemy.

Eugenics and Sperm Donation

Eugenics began its rise in the United States in the early 20th century, to which, many States manufactured laws that enabled compulsory sterilization of certain groups within their population such as Native American Indians, or people originating from certain Eastern European nations that were considered to be of "inferior stock" and so forth.  The pushback against Eugenics, began in the 1930s led by respected doctors and other professionals that recognized that Eugenics had more similarity with "pseudoscience" than actual science, and further that the proponents of Eugenics were utilizing the guise of "improving the human race" as the cover for their true desire, which was to reduce the population of certain groups of people through massive sterilizations that didn't fit into their mindset, so as to achieve their progressive social agenda, of reducing "misfits, delinquents, and the criminally inclined" which, in theory, would make for a more coherent, and successful American human race.  Later, Nazi Germany, demonstrated the insanity and the horrors of what Eugenics truly meant by their  mass sterilizations along with their mass exterminations of undesirables to obtain, what they thought would be a "master race",  shining light on the ugly lie of Eugenics and its true diabolical meaning.

Today, unfortunately, Eugenics is very much alive, but in a different guise and with a different shade of lipstick.  Eugenics is alive in America in two aspects, one is through legal abortion, to which, the poor and downtrodden are encouraged to kill their unborn children, essentially replicating the same effectiveness of sterilization, with the difference being rather than being compelled by law to do so, these impoverished people are encouraged to do so, for various economic as well as self-serving ones, convincing them that it is the right and the fair thing to do.  The second part of the equation, are the sperm banks that have been created within America, to which, the sperm donors, are classified and marketed as being, for instance, of a certain height, of a certain IQ, of a certain health, of a certain family background, of a certain psychological makeup, of a certain race, and a college graduate, to name the most prominent of the factors that make up mainstream sperm donation banks.

In essence, this is a form of selective breeding, as if humans should be bred amongst the lines that great breeds of cattle or horses are done, strictly through genetics, so as to obtain the best marbling, or the best runner, and so forth.  This type of sperm donation "science", is in essence, just another flavor of Eugenics, to which it is believed that certain characteristics of human beings can simply be bred from one person to another, if carefully screened for.  This is very bad science, and a very dangerous game, because it signifies in essence, that there is such a thing as desirable genes, and that there is such a thing as undesirable genes, and that, by definition, the State, or those acting under the aegis of the State, are the determinants of what those desirable genes are.  This means, that those that have desirable genes will be treated in a more favorable manner by State agencies than those that do not, which is inherently unequal and unfair, and the very opposite of what this country is purporting to represent. 

Earnings Surprises and Wall Street

There is plenty of empirical evidence that earnings surprises on Wall Street have a material effect upon the stock price of the stock in question, which has been documented by many institutions as well as brokerage firms.  That is to say, when a given company exceeds or misses their quarterly earnings consensus number and/or their quarterly sales goals, there will be a material impact in the price of that stock that will be reflected in their updated stock price.  Not too surprisingly, it is when earnings and/or sales disappoint, that one will see the biggest percentage impact on the stock price, because nobody wants to be that stupid sucker holding the wrong stock; so as earnings surprises go, one would prefer pre-knowledge of negative news because it is far more profitable.

Obviously, those that are in the highest levels of management, finance, and authority within a given company, have a very clear idea as to whether quarterly earnings are going to be pleasantly received by Wall Street or not.  Because the stock exchanges wants to at least appear to be fair to the common investor, "quiet" periods have been instituted for publically traded companies which in theory, helps to level the investing field, by essentially eliminating any direct information being disseminated by said company to security analysts and the like in regards to definitive information on earnings.

Of course, when it comes to money and especially to the making of money that directly pertains to you, this so-called "quiet" period is violated either directly or indirectly time and time again.  There have been numerous cases of insider trading to which prison sentences and/or monetary fines have been imposed, and no doubt, there will continue to be criminal cases like this far into the foreseeable future, mainly because getting advanced information about specific companies is highly correlated to impressive overall stock trading success and also monetary rewards for those disseminating such.

The way that Wall Street works is that advanced information is king, and those that are privy to this information have an inherent and unfair advantage over those that do not.  For instance, in today's hi-technology world, to which stock buys and sells are executed within fractions of a second, just having knowledge that is a minute or two ahead of the actual earnings surprise, will, in a short period of time, make you a very successful and profitable trader.  To take this to the next level, recognize that Wall Street is filled with ambitious, competitive, cutthroat, and motivated people that are hungry to make money, and further to the point that most highly visible public companies do not want to get on the bad side of brokerages, or stock analysts, or media, and there is a basic symbiotic reason why at a minimum some sort of implied notice of privileged information is leaked one to another.

For the common investor, you are always at an inherent and material disadvantage when it comes to your equity investments, especially over the short term and consequently there isn't much that you can do about that, because by the time the news gets to you, the easy money has already been made.   At publically traded companies, earnings surprises are a fact of life, and this information is ready-made for insiders and their associates to profit from, and it's no real surprise that it's done, because many people desire that little "extra" just because.

Being Good and Doing Good

Although being good and doing good, sounds as if they are pretty similar, that's mainly because they both use the word good, but they certainly are not the same thing, as there are fundamental differences between the two.  To be good is often based around having attributes that are similar to kindness, courtesy, and obedience.  All these things are well and good but while simply being good has its merits if that is all that you are, you will fall woefully short of fulfilling your obligation to others, which is quite simply to do good onto others.  To do good for others may in fact, occasionally mean taking action in places and doing things for others that those who profess to know better, won't themselves do. For instance,  look at the story of the good Samaritan, the good Samaritan is the man of action, who does not ignore a fellow man in need, and goes above and beyond in providing this robbed and hurt man, the attention and respect of dressing his wounds, of placing this stranger on his animal as to not tax him physically any further, takes this fallen man to an inn, requesting that he being taken good care of, and the Samaritan pays the innkeeper with his own money for doing so, while also making a commitment to pay more, if needed, for the injured man's care.  All this is done by the Good Samaritan, out of his concern and compassion for this injured man, this is doing good at its finest level.  The other two men, one a Priest, the other one a Levite, were apparently people that in their submission to the Law were being good, but in their lack of action as well as their lack of compassion, did not do good.

There are those that like that Priest, as well as that Levite, believe that simply by doing good, for instance, by not blaspheming, or by not indulging in certain fleshly lusts, or by regular attendance at places of worship and by prayer, that they have done all of the Law, or in humbler moments believe that they have done most everything of the Law, that this therefore should automatically provide them with admission into Heaven, will find out in the end to their dismay that this is not the truth.   God is not deceived by appearances or by the outward display of what looks to be goodness, while God certainly appreciates all our good behavior that is not the only attribute that God knows us by.  God judges us by our heart, who we really are and what we are really about, he sees the real us, and not the surface person that we try to represent to others.  Listen to these true words spoken in Galatians 6:7: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."  We soweth in our actions towards others, the wisdom, help, and advice that we provide towards our fellow human beings, and our reactions to the tests that everyday life presents to us.

By all means be good, as that is an excellent foundation to begin from, but within that being good, recognize that you must also do good for the hungry, for the thirsty, for the stranger, for the naked, for the prisoner, and thereby ministered unto them, because by doing this unto the least, you do it also unto thy Lord himself.

Appeal your Property Tax

Taxes are part of the American milieu, but so also is the annual game of trying to circumvent or to reduce one's taxes that are owed.  Depending upon the county or State that you live in, as well as the valuation of your property, property taxes may be something that you will have to do battle with or might consider doing battle with, at least, occasionally. For instance, in the county that I live in, my property taxes recently jumped 23% in one year, and while it is true that property taxes can be lowered in my county as well as being increased, when it came time to lower my taxes in the maelstrom of 2008 banking and housing crisis, the better part of valor was for me to submit an appeal for lower taxes first, rather than wait for the property tax authorities, if ever, to get around to reducing my taxes at all.

In my county, they start the property tax process off by mailing you a one-page form called the "Annual Notice of Assessment" which simply states that although this is not the actual Property Tax bill, your property value is changing to such and such value.  What this means to the property taxpayer is that the valuation of your property has been determined and contained within this form they will state the last date that you have to file an appeal of this valuation.  While different counties allow appeals to be done in different ways, such as via email, or via FAX, in my county, your appeal must be done in writing and you must also utilize the appropriate government appeal form.  If, for some reason, you don't fill out your appeal form correctly or if you appeal later than the appropriate cutoff date, you will, by definition, lose.  When formulating your appeal, to be taken seriously, you must demonstrate through some proof as to why the proposed value for your home is incorrect. The best way to do so is to obtain documentation of comparables in the correct fiscal year that are applicable to your property valuation.  For instance, while taxes are due no later than October 15th in my county, the valuation is of your home as of December 31st of the previous year.  If you fail to understand this, or if you fail to understand how to best do comparables in your community, your chances of success are substantially reduced.  Once your appeal is received, you will get notice, typically within six weeks, to which your appeal will either win, or lose, or be rejected because of some error in filling out the form or whatnot.  If you win, that appeal amount will be the amount that your property will be assessed for on your Property Tax bill.  If you lose, you will receive a notice that states: "…its decision was to not make any change in the valuation."

If you lose, that decision does not mean that the game is over, because in my county, you can appeal to the Board of Equalization.  The Board of Equalization, is made up of three members, all of whom live in the same county as you do, to which, you will appear and face these three members of the Board, as well as a representative from the Tax Assessors' office.  There are, however, some very important features of this hearing which are extremely prejudicial to the appealer.  The first is that the Tax Assessor already has your appeal basis documentation, but you, on the other hand, do not have the Tax Assessors' documentation as to how they determined your property value, and won't receive this information until the actual hearing.  Additionally, there are two more problems, when you first walk into the room, the Tax Assessor representative will already be in the room ahead of you and in the company of the Board of Equalization, and further troubling is the fact that only the representative from the Tax Assessors' office controls the audio/visual display of your property as well as comparable properties on the screen that is primarily for the viewing pleasure of the Board of Equalization.   Although each party gets a chance to state their case, it is a huge inherent advantage for the Tax Assessors' office to have the pertinent information that you have not previously been privileged to have access to.  In any event, each side has its say, and each can cross-examine the other, to which the whole affair only lasts some twenty minutes or so.  The board will then render their decision, majority rules, and in my case it was unharmonious against me.

But, once again, that does not mean that the appeal is over.  As a taxpayer, you are allowed to appeal this decision to Superior Court, to which I filled out the form to do so.  In the process of filling this appeal, I was told that I didn't need to pay anything or to proceed any further, because first they would try to mediate things between myself and the Tax Assessors' office via phone.  I was told that often a compromised price could be arranged.  I was intrigued by this information, because Superior Court, was that proverbial lose/lose situation.  I would lose, first by virtue of having to put up $200 odd dollars or so to make the appeal, and the county would surely lose by having to set aside a court room, jurors, judge, bailiff and the like, and all of this before any decision would be reached.  In due time, I was able to talk with my Tax Assessor, a reasonable person, and come to a successful conclusion of my appeal, to which I got  an 83% reduction of their proposed assessment increase, meaning that I got most of what I wanted.

So to sum up, they raised my property taxes; I appealed by mail and lost.  I then appealed to the Board of Equalization and lost.  Lastly, I was willing to take my final appeal to Superior Court, whereupon through phone mediation, and after further review, they saw the merit behind my appeal, and gave me most everything that I had desired in the first place.  How many taxpayers would be willing to do what I did?  I don't know, but to make change, you must be willing to agitate, and to do your homework, and to not give up.

The New Feudal System

The home ownership rate in America peaked at 69.4% in 2004, as of the 4th quarter of 2014, according to cnbc.com the seasonal adjusted rate of home ownership had plummeted to just 63.9%.  This is a stunning reversal of the home ownership rate within America, to which, as always, it is the poorest and less fortunate amongst us that have suffered the most during this interim of massive amounts of foreclosures and transfer of home ownership from one segment of the population to another.  During the time of this steep dive in home ownership, the percentage of homes being bought through all cash transactions has soared, to which according to smartasset.com, Goldman Sachs estimates that as high as 57% of all home sales are in fact, by cash.  This statistic seems perplexing, especially in an age of unparalleled mortgage rates which have dropped to historic lows.  While there are many possible explanations as to why cash sales have soared, the most likely reason for this occurring is that the new home owner class are investors, buyingphysical assets "low", with the belief that they are getting the best of it, and also buying not for the purpose of occupying the homes themselves, but specifically to rent the homes out and to reap the tax benefits of property depreciation and rental ownership, while also having an excellent chance to achieve capital appreciation over the long term.

While there are certain advantages of not owning a home, such as the fact that your flexibility of movement is far more easily attained, there are a multitude of good reasons, why owning a home is to your benefit, such as the fact that your home represents the place that you live, for you and your family, so it provides you shelter, comfort, and memories.  It also is an item that with appropriate credit that you can purchase over an extended period of time, to which, normally, or historically, you will see an appreciation in its value over that time.  There are also many tax benefits for being a home owner, as well as giving you skin in the game and in your community.  In a country in which too often, our Constitutional rights are under assault, or being challenged, owning your own home, gives you, in most cases, a "castle" that you can call your own, to which you are your own master, decider as to who or what is allowed entrance into your domain.  It is your private property to do with as you desire, subject to the general norms of society, and your home too can represent a legacy to pass on to your heirs, as your home for most people of modest wealth, is in fact, their largest asset of all.

When you no longer own your own home, or never have own your own home, this means that you have no living quarters that are your own by legal right.  In feudal times, the common people lived on a manor, an estate that they didn't own, but only were granted the right to work the land, providing the proceeds of their labor to the feudal hierarchy, in exchange for permission to live there and for protection from outside alien forces.  The feudal life was a harsh life for the serfs, a life with no future, and little hope of opportunity or escape from it, but American today is slipping towards a new feudalism itself.  A feudalism that may be richer in material wealth for the peasants, but a feudalism that precludes too many Americans from ever owning their own housing property, with often little or no opportunity to make living wages, with only substandard educational institutions available for their offspring, to which, the upshot is that generation after generation will be stuck in a life that in representation makes them nothing more than glorified wards of the State.

The Freedom to be about Your Business

America is a country founded on the principle, that each of us are born with inalienable rights, and further that the only legitimate government to answer to is one that is of the people, by the people, and for the people.  Those above sentiments are America at its finest, however in our modern culture and often in our big city life, the State has either inadvertently or deliberately loss sight of the purpose of their being, to wit, that the police force within cities is too often used as a cudgel to keep the people down, or to keep certain undesirable people down, or to intimidate certain people in particular, or to simply "bully" certain members of society.

The fact of the matter is that the average citizen in the course of his business is not particularly interested in interacting with any police force representative during his day-to-day activities, often not so much because he dislikes the police, in particular, but specifically because the police represent too often the frontlines of the State and how they can arbitrarily change everything, and I mean everything in regards to you as an individual, without really a moment's notice.  That is to say, you can be walking down the street, minding your own business, and be basically forced to compel with a police officer's demand to provide identification, explain your reason or purpose for being in that place at that time, and so on.  This can be a highly disturbing interaction for the citizen, no matter who they are, because the fundamental difference between a police officer and just another random person who while walking down the street asks you to stop or perhaps asks you a question about your identity, is that you can simply ignore basically anyone else, with the exception of the police officer.  If you ignore the police officer, or prove to be a difficult subject for the police officer, you will find that often, very quickly, that it is seldom wise to assert your Constitutional rights to be "secure in your own person", instead it is wiser to know that the better side of valor is to cooperate with the officer of the law.  The fundamental reason why you wish to cooperate with a police officer has often little or nothing to do with the law, and much to do with the fact that the police officer who is engaging with you has often the following with him: a handgun, a TASER, a baton, handcuffs, chemical spray, radio for backup, and a lot of discretion to use any or all of these items against you.  This means that anytime that you interact with a police officer, your life, as you know it, could change dramatically.

If, the above information is correct, and I do submit that it is, this means that for all practical purposes, that you as a citizen are not able to simply go about your business, certainly not in public, that, in fact, at any time, for any reason, you could be subject to being stopped by an agent of the State apparatus, and essentially have to identify yourself and your purpose, without question.  This signifies for all practical purpose that our freedom of movement is restricted by the State, especially and particularly for those who are not fortunate enough to fit within a certain choice demographic, so, in essence, freedom is not equally applied to all within America, and it never has been.

The Elite Control the Many

To the average American in the street, if you were to ask them whether in America the "Majority Rules", then would almost, without exception, nod their head in affirmation.  After all, isn't that how all our elections are held, that the majority wins by virtue of having received greater than 50% of the votes or a plurality of the votes cast?  What the average American is missing though, is just because a certain person or a particular ballot proposition passed by a majority or a plurality of registered voters this has very little to do as to whether the majority rules, as this is simply the most superficial view of American democracy.  In actuality, when someone wins an election, or a ballot proposition is passed, one must look behind the curtain to see as to who actually gained and who actually lost, and in many instances, the answer will point to those that are in true control of our liberties.

It is imperative to understand that in virtually any country, in virtually any company, in virtually any organization, that none of these institutions are truly democratic, to wit, not all are treated equally, not all are given an equal voice, and not all have an equal influence.  While some of this is purely the natural course of events, it is important also to recognize that in actuality no matter the motto or principles of said institution, none of these organizations are truly setup to provide an equal opportunity to all, they are all in their way, managed, so that a few will lord it over the many, perhaps, in a few exceptional cases, unwittingly.

Within the American psyche there are very few people that having gained ground, material wealth, property, power, and such, fairly or not, would willingly wish to relinquish it to some other entity or other person.  In fact, power and influence once obtained, are attributes that few are completely satiated with, and many would do much to oppose those that would try to take these very things away from them.  One must comprehend that although America has, for instance, two great political parties that appear to be at loggerheads to each other, as well as major multi-national corporations such as Microsoft and Apple, that appear to compete against each other, that in many instances, almost all instances, that "there isn't a dime's worth of difference between the two," that they are all, in fact, in the same boat, that the elites within each major political party, as well as the powerful corporate executives within each gargantuan multi-national corporation, have more in common to each other than they do to the common people, which means that at the end of day, whether one party wins the election or one corporation takes more market share from the other, in aggregate, they always win, because as time goes on they achieve more power, more money, more influence, and more domination over the common man who often times is oblivious to it all.

Commerce, media, and justice, are controlled, or at worse, heavily influenced by those that have the appropriate power apparatus already in place, the deep pockets of monetary wealth, and the fear factor to make good on their situational leverage.   In today's modern world, you cannot hope to rise in power or into meaningful authority, without the support of money, connections, and media play.  Those that can make you, will only let you in, with the implicit understanding that you have to "play ball" to do so.  The choices and the change that so many Americans believe are possible are, for the most part, a complete charade.

Tax Shelter Unfairness

There are probably not a lot of Americans that like paying taxes, although there are a lot of Americans that understand the necessity of taxes having to be paid to our Government.  When it comes to America's tax code, there is a massive and unfair line drawn that separates the "unconnected" and "unenlightened" taxpayers from those "special" taxpayers that have either the means to hire or to utilize the output of the best and brightest tax attorneys and accountants, or lobbyists, or possibly having the ear of important members of Government agencies, such as members of Congress, and the like.  The bottom line when it comes to paying taxes is that the more simple and the more straightforward that our tax code is, the better that we can be assured that it is indeed being equally applied to all.  However, we know for a certainty, that this is not the case in America, as according to the taxfoundation.org our tax code is 70,000 pages, although it is claimed by: "Andrew Grossman, the legislation counsel for the Joint Committee on Taxation that helps write tax laws … it’s “only” 2,600 pages."

Few of the truly rich and powerful in America have any interest whatsoever in paying their "fair" share of taxes.  While they can justify their attitude on a lot of different levels, and some of that justification is absolutely correct, the most basic reason why the rich don't want to pay more than then have to in taxes, is all about the basic principle that the more money that you have or the more money that you control, the more stuff that you can therefore use money for, for example, to better yourself, or your family, or your compatriots, and basically to maintain control or undue influence over the thingsthat you consider most important to you.  For an absolute certainty, whether the money that a man has obtained or earned has come through legitimate means or through somewhat questionable ones, most rich people, considers that money to be theirs, only theirs, and have little interest in departing with any of it, unless it is on their terms.

Not too surprisingly, with that sort of attitude in mind, and with the staggering aggregate numbers that are being bantered about being in the billions upon billions of dollars, there is going to be plenty of motivated people, that will work very hard, to provide and to recommend various tax shelters so that certain people, can say, and possibly mean it, that they pay all of their taxes due that are required by law.  Whether that is a literal truth or not, is best left to the tax gods to sort out, but in essence, what it really means, is that their tax shelters work effectively and they're therefore pleased by that.

The crux of the problem, however, is that the tax shelters that are utilized are both an inherent and unfair advantage that the rich have over the rest of us, whether the wealthy are using and misusing charitable trusts, or grantor retained annuity trusts, or tax-deferred retirement plans, or step-up in basis for assets transfers, or the parking of money in offshore accounts, or anything that is able to take current income and reduce it substantially through the "tricks of the trade" will suffice. 

The bottom line is that when the rich truly do not pay their fair share of their tax obligation, and they often do not, it becomes demonstrative proof that the game is rigged, that the sucker is all those that do pay their fair share, grudgingly or not, and our country and its posterity are far the worse for it.

Our Greatest Obligation to God is to do Good to Others

John Wesley said it best that our greatest duty is to: “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”  If all were living to this creed, this world, and the people that reside in it, would be a glorious place indeed.  However, even if our fellow man as well as we falls short in this noble goal, these words of wisdom, if lived by those of true faith, will do more than anything else to make this world a better place.  The change that we so often clamor for, must first start within ourselves, and to demonstrate that we are sincere, we prove that sincerity in our actions towards our fellow man and the respect that we show towards our Creator.

God does not need our prayer, nor even does God necessarily need our love, neither does God need or demand animal sacrifices, or other rituals of long standing tradition.  God does not ask of anything of those he has created, for he has given us free will to do as we like, subject to man's law, but God is pleased when we do good to others, when we treat others with the same respect as we wish ourselves to be respected, when we help those that need help, aid those who need aid, mentor does that need mentoring, guide those that need guiding, because in the end when we leave this world, the riches that have been accounted for us, come from our good advice, our actions that have been activated and implemented by others, and our example, lived by others in their words and their deeds.

None of us live onto just ourselves, as each of us, no matter our status, no matter our intelligence, no matter our circumstances; interacts with other people, for better or for worse, each and every day.  Each day we are each given the opportunity to do good, to be good, and to accomplish good, should we so be inclined.  This doesn't mean that we shouldn't care about ourselves and our personal circumstances, we too have the same obligation to do well to ourselves, but we must also recognize that self-justification is the easiest lie that we can say to ourselves. 

Each and every day, we decide who that is that we will serve, and who that it is that we will glorify.  If we decide that we will endeavor to serve and to glorify God, we will find that our decisions and our actions will be different, probably diametrically different than if we decide to serve and to glorify ourselves, mammon, and our material aspirations.  The decisions that we make and the actions that we take are our own, but he is a foolish man, that believes it is wiser to feed at the trough of temporal glory, because that treasure will be left behind upon their material demise, while the eternal treasure that could have been theirs, will be far from their grasp.