How good is A Treaty?

Treaties have been a part of American life since its founding, to which the American government, for example, has signed treaties with its own native Indian tribes as well as signing treaties between sovereign nations, for all sorts of different things and with all sorts of conditions.  Unfortunately, despite a treaty being willingly signed by all signatories, it is amazing how often that the treaty itself ends up not being worth the paper that it is written upon.  The main problem with any treaty is that if a dispute within that treaty isn't mediated by a truly neutral party with the power to make and enforce a binding agreement onto all parties, than treaties will be subject to the possible abuse of degenerating into a case in which, the side that has the power, wins the dispute, and effectively nullifies the treaty and its original purpose.

A case in point is the treatment of the United States government against native Indian tribes in America, where in case after case, treaty conditions were ignored or nullified by our government, all in the overriding purpose of manifest destiny, greed, or convenience.  It isn't fair nor is it a credit to America's greatness, if treaties or agreements are ignored, simply for expediency, so that the law of land is always overridden, when it is in the perceived best interests of the State to do so.

If the United States of America will not honor or live up to its obligations in regards to legally binding agreements or treaties, how is it possible to expect honor and respect from its own citizens.  Unfortunately, too often in our treaties the United States has played a game of "might is right", so that this represents a total negation of what this country is suppose to stand for, which is equal justice equally applied to all.

America has a tendency to look around this great nation, and to essentially state: "look what we have accomplished by bending or breaking the rules, so that the end truly justifies the means," but that isn't the hollow ground that America was founded upon.  Sadly, this appears to be the biased theorem that America rests upon, which if played out on a global basis, essentially means that agreements, treaties, and understandings between two or more parties are at best, guidelines to be considered, and at worse, to be actively subverted.

The whole point of a treaty or an agreement is for all parties to abide by it in principle and in its effects.  If that isn't the case, than there isn't any real good reason to go through that exercise in the first place.  The point of rule of law, is not that it only applies when you want it to apply, but that it applies equally at all times, whether you like it to or not. 

A treaty is only as good as the honor and the respect of the signatories to it.  Those, without honor, will deceive those of good faith which is a significant reason why we continue to live in a world, of strife, war, and injustice.  The first step towards justice is the recognition that we are all in this, together, and the sooner that we recognize this, the sooner that we will find lasting peace.

Financial Legerdemain

Most people consider business to be fairly straightforward, that is to say, if the cost of your product is $6 and you sell that product for $10, you have made a profit of $4.  Of course, they have failed to take into account such things as rent, labor, equipment, overhead, and so on.  In any event when a business successfully turns a profit we believe that we have seen the best of capitalism, with the invisible hand of the marketplace benefiting all parties involved.  However, there is one fundamental component of business that is sometimes loss in all that activity, which is the medium of money, itself, which is virtually the only constant between one business type to another, and from one entity to another.

The fundamental thing about money is that you and I are not allowed to issue our own currency, and that the currency which we utilize on a daily basis isn't even government issued currency in the first place.  If we take a careful look at our actual money, the dollar bill, states that it is a "Federal Reserve Note", and while that might imply that must be government issued money, since federal and government seem to go together, the fact of the matter is the Federal Reserve is actually a private consortium of banks that lends money to the American government.

As you might imagine, the issuer of our currency, has massive advantages over those that have to utilize the currency in order to conduct their day-to-day business.  For instance, the stability of the value of money is not constant, so that those that are more aware of possible inflation or possible deflation, of interest rate increases or decreases, will be ever able to take advantage of this inside knowledge to their aggrandizement.  Further to this, our banking system is able to take advantage of rules made for their benefit, for instance, the banks are allowed to leverage their deposits on file, so as to create loans and to circulate money, so that if there are $100 million in deposits at said bank, they have the ability and the power, subject to certain conditions, to loan or to invest 20x that amount, making it fairly straightforward for banking agencies to mint themselves a very nice profit.

Americans are fortunate too, because the dollar represents the reserve currency to the world, that is to say, because of our size and wealth, the dollar is the de facto standard for financial transactions throughout the world.  This means, that most financial transactions are conducted in dollars, or subject to dollar conversion, or loaned in dollars, and ultimately measured in dollars, to which these banks can benefit and make money by the charging of various fees, conveniences, and services for providing this liquidity to foreign banks.

All of the foregoing essentially means, that banks, despite their protestations to the opposite, in essence make their money off of the labor of other people and companies, by on the one hand being that medium of exchange and subjecting those that must utilize money to conduct business a fee(s), and at the same time "gaming" the system, so that they can maximize their profits at the general expense of the public.  Unfortunately, making matters ever worse for the general public, when certain member banks have a very bad day at the office, they are considered to be "too big to fail" which translated means that the public is stuck paying for the banks ill-advised gambles that have failed.

Be Still and Listen to God

We are taught to lead an active live, to be about something and to work hard and to accomplish things but while this has its place, there is also a time that must be set aside to simply be still and through that stillness to allow the voice of God to be heard.  From Psalm 46:10 we read: "Be still, and know that I am God…" which can only come about by being calm, by being receptive to God's word, and by being willing to listen.  In the cacophony of modern life, we may seldom be still, or seldom to have the opportunity to be still, but just as we need time to refresh ourselves for the day's activities, as well as having time to give thanks and prayer to our Lord, there must also be a time specifically set aside where we tune out the sounds and activities of life, and quietly and serenely calm our mind so as to receive the wisdom of God's voice.  It is like this, if we do all the talking, if do all the thinking, if we have little or no patience, than how is it possible for God to speak to us, if we are never in the position to just serenely listen to His wisdom.

Each one of us, rich or poor, of any religion, of any race, of any political persuasion, can avail themselves of God, and His infinite grace, if we only desire to do so.  Of course, in America, we are a nation that demands results, immediately, but while that may be the way of mankind, it is not God's way.  God's heart is always open to us, but our Lord wants to know that we are sincere in our affection for Him.  If we do all the talking, if we do all the preaching, if we do all the demanding, God will patiently listen to us, until we are finished, but too often our minds and hearts are not prepared to be receptive to hearing in return the voice of God, because of all the confusion and static that we have created on our end.

Anything of truly great merit is worth spending the time and effort to gain it, which often necessitates dedication, consistency, learning, and the correct processing of information.  To listen to the voice of God, sounds very simple, but it requires an obligation of the devotee to sit quietly at the seat of God, without the ego demanding anything of God.  God knows your needs before you do, God knows you better than you do, and if you are truly receptive to His ineffable wisdom, you will receive from Him what you have asked for in your heart.

Mankind is caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, believing that all he is doing is not only necessary, but right.  Yet, deep within most everybody, is a certain dissatisfaction, that all somehow is not right, that there is something especially vital that is yet missing.  What is missing is that voice of God, it's there, it's always there, it will never leave you, you have only to be still, to be quiet, to be receptive, and then want, want without ceasing, for the peace that surpasses all understanding to enrapture you, and take you to that faraway place, which restores your immortal soul.

Bait Car-- Law Enforcement Hypocrisy

I recently watched a couple episodes of "Bait Car" a TV program in which the police "bait" a nice looking car by placing it in an area of the community in which it is claimed that there has been a high incident of car thievery, by leaving the keys in the car, the door open to the car, and it appeared to me, the engine running.  Inside the car are cameras to record both audio and video, and nearby to the bait car, are a few cop cars, to track the car if it should be "stolen", an offsite audio/video command center to monitor all the action, and a helicopter up in the air, to track the car.  Within this TV program, there are several fundamental problems, which I will address in the following paragraphs.

First off, the entire concept of catching criminals by setting up a bait car is a total sickness displayed by the police authorities.  The reason it is sick, the reason it is wrong, is that the car is placed purposely only in minority neighborhoods, deliberately to induce the lowest lying fruit of the neighborhood, who are impoverished for lack of opportunity, to take an impulsive action, which they will invariably do.  The fact that the car is ultimately "stolen" shouldn't surprise anyone, since the police have done everything within their power to say, "come get this nice looking car," and the police really honey the pot by leaving both the car door open and the engine running to encourage those in the neighborhood, to investigate the situation which may initially be from a perspective of concern, especially if the car is parked at a weird angle or in an unauthorized parking spot.

Additionally, while the police authorities charge those that take the vehicles with car theft, at worse, they are taking out the vehicle for a "joy ride", as at no point are they ever in position to actually steal the car, as it would be one thing, if the car was simply left alone, abandoned, and it's an entirely different thing for the police to be able to control this "stolen" car in such a manner that they can disable the engine as well as lock the doors from the inside so that the driver cannot even exit it.  Also, in the real world, anyone that abandons their vehicle, along with leaving their engine both running and their car door open, is culpable themselves in any criminal activity that occurs, since they have not performed normal and prudent actions to protect their property, especially in an area that is suppose to have a high incident of car thievery.  In addition, none of the bait cars taken have been broken into by force, or jerry-rigged to get the car started, or anything that would normally occur if someone was a real car thief, and stealing a vehicle.

Furthermore, the cost of this "sting" operation in regards to the expenditure of monies on police personnel and their equipment is absolutely a total waste of the community's money.  The police have not in actuality caught any criminals, they have at best, manufactured people that are impoverished and impulsive as criminals, but without the baited car, there would not have been a crime, so the police have not done anything positive for the community except to harass and to in essence, demonstrate that some people are susceptible to temptation.

In fairness to the community at large, for every "bait car" episode, there should be a "bait cop" episode, in which real undercover federal agents play the role of being neighborhood drug dealers, to which, when they see a real police car rolling up on them, they scatter to the wind, accidently dropping money, drugs, and other paraphernalia, all properly baited for tracking purposes, and all being recorded via drones up in the air.

Aircraft Carrier Landings

There are plenty of people that have a fear of flying, but heck, that is flying on normal, commercial aircraft which is statistically seen as the safest mode of traveling for passengers, so the fear that certain passengers have is basically unfounded.   On the other hand, you have military aircraft that must take off and land onto aircraft carriers, and in a time of war, also take care of delivering their military payload onto the intended target(s), or whatever assignment that has been given to that particular aircraft pilot.  The sheer audacity of aircraft landing onto a moving aircraft carrier that is situated on an unstable and moving surface, which is an ocean, on a runway which is both short and unforgiving is absolutely staggering, yet it is done, time and time again, successfully.

Even the taking off on an aircraft carrier is an exercise in precision, as an airplane needs appropriate velocity in order to take off successfully, unlike commercial airports, the runway on an aircraft carrier is not long enough, so there are two basic things that are needed to aid an aircraft in taking off; the first is the speed of the carrier itself, which helps to generate necessary wind speed, and along with a special catapult utilized depending upon the carrier, and with an airplane track to both help guide and to assist the plane into reaching the velocity needed for takeoff, the actual takeoff is accomplished. 

After the mission is accomplished the aircraft must land back onto the aircraft carrier.  The first step towards a successful landing is lots and lots of simulated landings, the second step is lots and lots of practice landing on a special auxiliary landing field over and over again, and the final step is the actual landing onto a real aircraft carrier.  As you might imagine, despite all the practice, despite all the technological equipment, despite all the instruction, the actual landing is intricate, involving not only the pilot, the aircraft, the aircraft carrier, aircraft equipment, but also specific personnel on the aircraft carrier that work in conjunction with the pilot to assure that the landing is successful, to which you as a pilot have to not only slow your aircraft down to a sustainable speed that will not stall your plane out, but also to a speed that will allow you to successfully time your landing of your craft onto a moving aircraft carrier. 

Because the world is about 70% water based, an aircraft carrier is of invaluable assistance because of its ability to get to just about any area of the world, and thereby allowing the aircraft onboard to deliver their payloads or accomplish other tactical missions, especially in places to which there are no nearby land or naval airbases.   The mobility of our aircraft carriers as well as the aircraft that they contain, allows the United States, to provide a meaningful presence in virtually any corner of this globe, as having preeminent control of both land and sea is a key component towards providing security through strength.

The Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem

The second great Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was originally commissioned in the 6th century BC, and was used as a place of worship for those of the Jewish faith for those many years, but it was not until the time of Herod, around 20 BC, that the temple was expanded greatly and became truly not only a site of great religious significance but also a true wonder of the world.  The sheer size of the temple was massive, it has been said that the temple had thirteen gates, probably signifying the twelve tribes of Israel, plus God.  The temple was used for both morning as well as evening offerings, as well as for all Jewish holy days.  We find that according to biblereasearch.com, Herod the Great commenced the rebuilding of the second Jewish temple to which: "…it took 46 years to complete the main building and another 36 years to finish the entire Temple complex."  The temple's creation was attested to also by the great ancient historian Josephus who wrote that: "The outward face of the temple was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and at the first rising of the sun reflected back a very fiery splendor."   Further, according to jewishvirtuallibrary.org the "…structure was built of stones weighing up to 400 tons and capable of accommodating up to one million people."  Even if we were to admit that these above passages probably suffered from hyperbole there is a compelling amount of historical evidence and religious testimony that the Second Jewish Temple definitely existed and that the edifice was both massive, of great religious significance, and quite impressive.

Today, there is some controversy about even the exact location of the Jewish Temple, to which, for a structure of such size and grandeur, you would think that this would not be an issue, but in 70 AD, the Romans laid a siege upon the Jews in Jerusalem and the temple was ravaged through battering rams, through fire, and destroyed, following through on the prophecy of the Christ who said: "… Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Mark 13: 2). Therefore, it follows that the archeological unearthing of the Second Jewish Temple would be of immense importance not only historically but in particular to those of the Jewish faith, as well as Christians and to Muslims, yet, that probably won't occur anytime soon as the Temple mount site suffers from the controversies and sensitivities of these religious faiths, and at the present time, the Temple Mount is maintained by the Muslim religious faith.

We live in a time to which archeology has advanced to such an extent as to be able to re-discover places and things that we have previously learned of only from historical documents and through religious artifacts, however we now have the capability and the skill to be able to re-create what transpired before in such a manner as to better appreciate and to better understand ancient civilizations and their historical times.  The Second Jewish Temple existed in the time of Christ, it contained too the Holy of Holies, making the Second Jewish Temple one of the most sacred sites in the world as well as being in its time a structure that was unparalleled, it certainly deserves to beunearthed for the glory of mankind.

The Disadvantages of Paperless Billing

In today's world when it comes to billing that you receive from your credit card company, or your mortgage company, or your utility company, or your cell phone company, in almost every instance, these companies want you to either change over to paperless billing, or will default you over to paperless billing, or will do whatever they can to convince you that paperless billing is in your best interests.  While, on the surface, this may seem like a good thing, especially if you really don't desire or need paper statements, there are downsides to paperless billing such as:

                1. You may not received their email in your inbox because it goes to spam instead

                2. You may have too many messages already in your inbox so you ignore or miss your billing    statement

                3. You may not bother looking at the actual bill but simply pay the bill sight unseen, without verifying its accuracy

                4. Additional usernames and passwords need to be created and to be remembered

For instance, most people have a main email address which is typically inundated with plenty of email messages to which for issues of expediency, if the subject matter or sender doesn't initially pique your interest you will delete the message, sight unseen.  Additionally, for whatever reason, with today's spam filters, that in general do a good job, your billing message from your credit card company might be routed into your junk mail and you will simply never see it and thereby suffer the consequences for having failed to pay your bill in a timely manner.

Another very bad potential problem with paperless billing is the human tendency to when it comes to bills, just reluctantly pay it without ever investigating it, just simply because it falls under the category of "out of sight, out of mind," so that you wrongly believe that the bill from said company must always be right and accurate but that isn't always the case.  For example, if you use your credit card often enough, somewhere along the line you will have a billing dispute to which the amount isn't correct, or the company billing you isn't correct in doing so because you canceled that trial service, or you may have interest, late charges, or penalties attached to your bill without you being conscious of it.  When it comes to utility bills, by just assuming that you can't fight a utility and blindly paying it, you may not realize that you are possibly paying a bill that has been "rounded up" so as to provide some extra money to some worthy cause, but not necessarily a cause that interests you, or much worse, you may find yourself having been defaulted into a variable rate plan, as opposed to a fixed plan, to which you are paying much more in natural gas costs than you imagined that you were, simply because you never bothered to check into it.

The fact of the matter is, for the main part, the reasons that all these billing companies are interested in switching you over to paperless billing is not really for your convenience, and not really to save a few trees, although that may well happen, but primarily to save themselves money, thereby helping their bottom line so that they are the true beneficiaries of this change, not really you.  So, do yourself a favor, and verify that paperless billing is really in your best interests, because ultimately it is your decision to make.

Should the Government Be our Master?

America prides itself on being the land of the brave and the home of the free, yet you definitely are not free if the government monitors your every action, and proselytizes to you and makes you to suffer endless propaganda, and tells you what foods you can or can't eat, and makes laws both arbitrary and capricious.  Today's government is force, it is power, it controls your freedom of movement, your thought, and your employment.  Every power given to government is less power aggrandized to you to make your own decisions and to make your own way.  A government that in theory can give you everything is the same government that can take away from you everything, including your life.

Our government likes to pretend that it is your big brother, looking out for your best interests, and that it is intimately concerned about your welfare.  The government says that it just wants to help you to make better decisions but in point of fact, the government mainly wants you to obey it, and to not think for yourself.  The most basic questions that all men should answer, is who should rule your life, yourself, or the government?  If you believe that it is the government, than you need to change not a thing in your life, because the government from cradle to grave will take care of you in every aspect of your life, for better or for worse.  If you believe, instead, that you should be the master of your own fate, than you are a true American and a true patriot to your country, which is a country created by the consent of the governed.

The government wants and does mandate what things you can or cannot do with your body.  Each year, the individual cedes more and more control of his body to the State, so that the State can determine what foods you can or cannot consume what drinks you can or cannot drink, and what chemicals you can or cannot assimilate into your own body.  While the government claims that it is doing this all in your best interests, the government conveniently forgets, that our Creator has blessed each of us with our own mind and our own thoughts, so that we can make our own decisions, ourselves. 

The steps for total government control start first from controlling what you are and are not allowed to do with your own body, all under the guise that the government is concerned about your health.  The next step is to control and to monitor your activities throughout the day, through social media, through your cell phone, through GPS, so that the government knows where you are at all times, so that it has the data to find you and to deal with you at any time of day.  The final step in governmental control is to control your behavior, which is for the government to reward "right" behavior and to punish "wrong" behavior.  These rewards and punishments are not based on Judeo-Christian principles, far from it; instead they are based on the dictates of the State and its powerful apparatus.

They say that "nothing is really free", mainly because there will come a time when the real master must be paid in blood, in coin, or whatever that it desires.   A real man has no king but the King Himself, and conducts his life with this knowledge and the understanding that he is the master of his own fate; whereas those that cede their God-given sovereignty to the State will reap what they sow.

Republic v. Democracy

In today's world, in all probability, most people in the United States believe that we live in a Constitutional democracy, and that we are all part of a democratic society. In all likelihood that belief originates because the media propagates the illusion that this is a democracy, but also because it just seems that "one man, one vote" is, in fact, the very definition of democracy in action.  The fact of the matter is, the United States was not created as a democracy; it was instead created specifically as a republican from of government.  Further to this point, our Constitution states that: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government," to which our President takes an oath to: …preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

The fundamental flaw with democracy, and the reason why the United States was deliberately not created as a democracy, is that a democracy in its most basic form is a form of government to which the majority rules, so that what the majority wants is what the majority gets.  A republic on the other hand, is a form of government which has a Constitution to which the republic must at all time pay obeisance to, unless that Constitution is amended.  This means that at all times the individual and by implication those of the minority position are protected by the Constitution from being subjected to arbitrary laws and rules.  Further this signifies that the majority cannot democratically vote themselves powers that are not available to them by our Constitution, protecting the individual from not having his inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness trampled upon by his own government or majority rule.

During our great civil war, our Constitution and our republican form of government were tested to its very limits, of which Abraham Lincoln wrote: "I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong." Further to this, Lincoln wrote: "I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the power."  This signifies, in its essence, the importance and respect that Lincoln gave the Constitution, to which, in completion of his legacy, the 13th through 15th amendments to the Constitution were passed, assuring that the rights given to those that had formerly been enslaved, but liberated through the Emancipation Proclamation, became part and parcel of the Constitution, itself.

It would be better and truer to state that we live in a Republican form of government, of which, most legislators are elected democratically, that is by majority vote, to which each individual that is eligible to vote, is entitled to exactly one vote on each ballot issue.  Further it can be said, that we live within a Constitution to which our laws, and our rule of law, all originate from, and it therefore follows that this Constitution applies to all, equally, that is to say that we have equal application of the law to all individuals, so that there is no one individual that is subject to different laws, separate from the people as a whole, because it there are those to which the Constitution does not apply, than you have the makings of a despotic government and the collapse of our republic.

Private Companies, War, and Profit

War should be the very last resort of any reasonable and mature nation, something not to be taken lightly, especially for countries such as America, which has not only a moral responsibility to lead by example, but also because America as a military force, is far and above the most powerful, the most sophisticated, and has the most awesome military strength the world has ever known.  Another fundamental thing about war that should never be discounted is that it is relatively easy to destroy, ravage, and rape a foreign country, but it is a far more difficult and challenging task to build up a foreign country, to assist and aid that foreign country so that in fundamental ways it can be a better place to live and to work in.  In short, it can be said that war is destructive in all of its phases, destructive of materials as well as our fellow human beings, although sometimes war is necessary, often times it is not.

One way for America to cut down on wars and its unnecessary foreign meddling is to cut the profit out of war.  In point of fact, war should never be an opportunity for private enterprise, and especially for large multi-national corporations to profit from death and ruination, yet war is very profitable for many corporations as well as a proven path of advancement for certain military personnel.  If one was to take the profit out of war, for a certainty, there would be a lot less war, because without the spoils of war, those corporations that make it their ply and trade to gain from it would quickly lose their interest in it.

While it can be said, that most corporations are in existence in order to make money and that therefore the taking away of any profit would disincentive them and subsequently in a time of real need, that they would not rally around the cause, that could be readily mitigated.  First off, most corporations are interested in increasing their size, even at the expense of profits; secondly, most corporations love monies spent on R&D, especially if those monies are being compensated by the government; thirdly, a very small profit, perhaps tied to the three-year treasury bill rate, should be enough to provide some profit compensation that would be acceptable to those corporations.

Another critical issue that is very upsetting when it comes to war and the profits that are made by corporations involved in the war effort, is that there are two very important things that are often pushed aside or ignored in the public debate which are the huge dollar deficits that are typically run up to fund the war as well as the lasting cost and damages to the soldiers themselves that fought in our wars.   Our country's war-time deficits must be paid, sooner or later, and unfortunately this means that future generations pay for the wars of our past, and if those wars were unnecessary or unneeded or un-debated in the first place, the more shame and dishonor that should be associated with it.  Even worse, is the lifetime cost of our young soldiers that come back home to America with psychological and mental damages, and/or physical injuries, to which some of those injuries those soldiers will never become whole from.  The cost of taking care of these veterans is once again, put upon the shoulders of the public itself, while those that profit from the war, are blithely unconcerned, while taking pleasure in counting what most would consider to be: blood-money.

Mark Felt: Hero or Traitor

Mark Felt joined the FBI in 1942 and rose to become one of the most powerful men in that organization, in fact, an associate director, to which upon J. Edgar Hoover's death in 1972, Felt had hoped that he would be appointed the head of the FBI to which his credentials to become FBI director were solid, but instead Nixon appointed Patrick Gray an outsider to the FBI as the Director, probably in the hope that the new Director would be more Nixon's man, rather than someone picked internal to the FBI.  Soon thereafter, just six weeks later, the Watergate break-in occurred, to which the intrepid reporters Bernstein and Woodward, eventually were to interact with a very knowledgeable inside source, who later became known as "deep throat", that provided to them guidance as well as important confirmation of information, of which many of the materials were known only to the FBI, conducting their own investigation of the Watergate break-in which included as stated by Woodward: "… access to information from the White House, Justice, the FBI, and CRP [Committee for the Re-election of the President)."

This means that Mark Felt, who admitted to being the inside source for Bernstein and Woodward, thirty-three years after the fact, was working for the FBI at the same time as he was leaking, confirming, guiding, and providing actionable information to the Washington Post reporters, a clear dereliction of duty, to which if Mark Felt really believed that he had documentation that needed to be presented for public discourse, the most honorable course to have taken would have  been to present such to a grand jury, which he did not do.  Instead, Mark Felt is on record, repeatedly denying that he was "deep throat", and in his memoir which was published in 1979, Felt denied to his co-author, de Toledano, that he was deep throat. 

The fact that Felt denied for so long that he was deep throat, is somewhat perplexing, until you recognize that his admission to being the FBI leak, probably came about not from a deep desire to "come clean", but probably from the need for his family to monetize his notoriety at the end of his life so as to gain money from it.  There is little doubt that Felt himself believed that his own actions taken during Watergate while with the FBI were not honorable, or he would have willingly and gladly come out as the source, upon Nixon's resignation in  1974, especially considering that Felt resigned from the FBI in June of 1973. 

While the actions of Felt may be considered to be heroic by some, perhaps more because he was an important instrument in the taking down of a President that had abused his power and authority, Felt is no hero.  Felt isn't a hero, because his actions were probably taken not for any noble reasons, but more out of spite for being denied the directorship of the FBI, as well as the knowledge that his future time was now going to be limited within the bureau, a job that he had loved and took great pride in. 

While we may consider Mark Felt to be a great and important whistleblower, here too, he falls short, because unlike other whistleblowers that have identified themselves, and either faced the music, their possible jail time, notoriety, hostility, and legal problems, they have done so, because they stand behind their actions.  Mark Felt, on the other hand, did not.

Let China Take Care of the Middle East

The United States has to be one of the dumbest nations in the global history of the world as again and again it gets "played" into taking over or becoming intimately involved into complicated political issues of long standing intransigence at the behest of European powers that have smartly walked away and cut their losses.  However, as China grows in both influence and power, there may indeed be a light at the end of the tunnel for American foreign interventions and unseemly dilemmas.  In regards to the Middle East, on the good side you have their abundance of oil as well as archeological sites of historical importance; however, on the bad side in the Middle East you have virtually everything else, to which the United States has repeatedly seen their worldwide image suffer greatly as well as monies and resources repeatedly wasted, unnecessarily.  Fortunately, American ingenuity, has come to our rescue, as America, has become, once again, as reported by politico.com the largest oil producer in the world, and it: "…is effectively producing 14 million barrels a day."  This clearly indicates that the necessity for the United States to have a strong military presence and intervention policy in the Middle East needs to be seriously re-evaluated.  Fortuitously, China, as reported by eia.gov is: "… the largest net importer of crude oil and other liquids in the world."

As you might imagine, there was a time when America had little or nothing to do with the Middle East, to which, it was primarily the European nations of Great Britain and France that had the greatest influence and logistical footprint within this region, but, by the conclusion of World War II, that mantle had been passed onto the United States, for better or for worse.  Given the fact that China has a great need for oil and further that China has already made significant inroads into the Middle East, which as reported by dw.de that: "… Chinese trade with the Middle East has risen from around 20 billion USD a decade ago to an estimated 230 billion USD last year."  It therefore makes all the sense in the world that China, not America, and not Europe, should be the one to make all the arrangements, treaties, trade agreements and anything else that is most appropriate to conduct successful business transactions in the Middle East.

Rather than having the United States becoming involved and entangled in more and more foreign countries with their incumbent warring political factions and other long-standing intractable problems, we should be instead actively pursuing exit strategies so that America can spend more of its resources and wealth on resolving its own domestic issues and getting its own house in order.  It is a grave mistake of the highest order for America to continually play the role of the world's policeman, to which our men and materials are constantly put into harm's way, often for a purpose that does not benefit America directly.  In the Middle East it seems that America puts up all the money, takes all the risk, and suffers all the blowback, all for a purpose that no longer exists.  There isn't any good reason to let China have a free ride on our backs, especially considering that China ultimately reaps the benefits of our military presence in the Middle East without risking much of their own reputation, their men, and their resources to do so.

 It's high time to change that.

Jumping with your Elbows Raised in Soccer should be banned

The most popular sport in the world is soccer, although it is known in virtually every other country other than America, as football.  Like any sport, soccer has its rules, and sometimes those rules need to be updated or revised to reflect the reality of the play of the game.  For instance, a two-footed lunging challenge on another player is basically a red-card offense, because of the inherent danger that could occur should either of these feet hit with impact against another's players leg.  If you watch soccer, often enough, you will notice that a significant portion of the game is actually played up in the air, to which the player that is able to control an aerial ball with his head can help his teammates or create a goal for his team.  While contact in the sport of soccer is expected, what occurs way too often in soccer games, is contact between one player's elbow or arm and another player's face.  As these are great athletes that are both young and strong, an errant elbow to the face can break a cheekbone, break a nose, knock a player unconscious, or take away another player's courage.

Too many times during the play of the game the incidents with an errant elbow or arm striking an opponent happens, to which sometimes it is clearly a foul, sometimes it appears incidental, and other times it isn't really clear at all.  The thing is there should be a rule applied that you should not be allowed to jump and attempt to head the ball in such a way that you are using your arms and/or elbows to shield another player away or to possibly harm them.  The easiest way to effect that change is to mandate that a player's arms must be kept to his sides in a normal natural motion and that while jumping, that the player's arm cannot be extended out at a height higher than mid-chest level.  For players complaining that need to extend arms to get aerial lift or to shield the ball, they will have to make do with this modified rule with arm usage and subsequently to widen their legs so as to control their space better.

Those that have taken an errant or deliberate elbow know the power and damage an elbow or arm can do to their face when it is left unprotected.  It is far better to change the rules of soccer so that rather than put the referee in the position as to adjudge whether an arm or elbow is inadvertent or deliberate, the rules will simply allow the referee to apply it as necessary as well as for the protection of the players. 

Without players, no sport would exist, and to know any player's intention on a given play is something that is not actually knowable, whereas a rule equally applied to all, is fair to all, and will not noticeably affect the game of soccer at all, except to cut down on unnecessary injuries and damage that errant elbows and arms create.  For instance, inside the 18-yard box, defenders are known for not making stupid tackles on the opposing players, as well as typically keeping their arms behind their backs so as to not incur a penalty.  The game does not suffer for having them do so, nor will it suffer for the non-usage of elbows and arms.

Christ: To Be or Not to Be

However that you view Jesus the Christ, rather as a charlatan or fake, as a mythical figure, the incarnate Son of the living God, a great prophet, the Messiah, or perhaps He who had Oneness with the Christ spirit, there can be little or no doubt that the Christ was at a minimum, a special man of immense importance not only for His time in history, but clearly with historical and present day implications unequaled by any other man.  If your life on earth, was set aside for nothing more than the intensive studying and for the edification of who, what, and how Jesus was the Christ, your life would definitely not have been lived in vain, because the value and the Truth that Christ brought to us, is unparalleled.

Yet, there is something troubling about this King of Kings, and the most troubling aspect for most people, is the physical and the ignominious death of the Christ.  The crucifixion of Christ seems to be wrong in all of its aspects, yet, we are taught that this is not so.  At the time of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, we read in Luke 22:44: "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."  This Biblical passage is disturbing, because it implies that within the Christ there is conflict, as if even the Christ is unsure or not welcoming the completion of his mission to become the sacrificial lamb for mankind.  We know through many other passages that Christ could foresee the future, so it is understandable that our Christ would be disturbed to know that he must suffer from the desertion of his closest adherents, as well as the duplicity of Judas Iscariot, the scourging and beating of his body, the deep disappointment that the public wished to see Barabbas freed rather than Himself, the Sadducees and the Pharisees actively wishing for His harm and death, and the judgment of the Roman authorities that He would be put to death by the ignoble means of crucifixion, and later at the point of his physical death, Christ would believe for at least a moment that God had unjustly abandoned Him.  Within all of these future events, however, Christ had the power, Christ had the authority, Christ had the strength, to overcome them all, yet He did not. 

Jesus the Christ was given a mission here on earth, a mission that scripture had already recorded before His birth, a mission that He was already aware of, knew of, was part of, and was prepared for.  Yet within that all, like any human, there was an honest questioning, as to whether this path had to be the path, the only path, the right path, and it was.  While the message of Christ was manifold, encompassing so very many mysteries, His physical death on Good Friday, was necessary to send the message to all of mankind that the justice that you seek cannot be found here, and never will be.  Further, that if all we ever are is the physical, than crucifixion of the Christ, is the end of the story, and will be the end of the story for all physical beings.  However, the true message of our Christ, the everlasting message that He sent to all of us, is that He has overcome the world, as you can too can overcome the world, because His resurrection on Easter Sunday, demonstrated once and for all, that the Spirit is the master of the physical, that we are both eternal as well as spiritual, and that the death on the physical plane rebirths us on the spiritual plane.  Further to this, that within each of us is the Kingdom of God that will not be denied to us, if we earnestly pray for it and surrenders ourselves to our loving God.

American Demagogue

American is fortunate, that unlike other countries it isn't ruled by a monarchy that is hereditary and therefore cannot be voted out of power, or by a dictator, or by a military junta, or by a demagogue, or by any other form of government that subverts the rights of the people.  However, just because this historically has been the way in America, and just because we live under Constitution government, doesn't mean that America can't suffer the same fates of so many other countries throughout history.

America is blessed, that it's greatest military leader, George Washington, who was unanimously elected twice by the electoral college, was so gracious and so wise as to leave the Presidential office, voluntarily, after two terms, so as to set the example that no one man was greater than the nation that so many had sacrificed so much to create.  Unfortunately, in the 20th century, Franklin D. Roosevelt, did not follow this precedent, and probably used the excuse of the pressing concerns of World War II to justify his running for both a third and a fourth term in office.  Had, FDR, not died in office, at age 63, one must wonder as to how many terms, or how long in the oval office he would have stayed, as for instance, President Reagan completed his second term in office at the age of 77.

Although since the passing of FDR, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution has been ratified, stipulating that the President is limited to two terms in office; in a nation to which there are so many lawyers, and so many legal interpretations, it would not be a stretch of the imagination that someone acting in the capacity of Executive Counselin conjunction with the standing President might look upon the 22nd Amendment as something that could be circumvented by the nature of the words:  "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice…" and simply interpret that to mean that as long as there are no further elections, because perhaps of a wartime emergency, or perhaps the declaration of martial law to suppress civil uprising or unrest, or perhaps some other such crisis, that national elections could simply become suspended.

Of course, most people, would state that this could never happen in the United States, but for the most part, most of America is pretty much content with the status quo as long as they get their proper "bread and circuses", to which no President would be fool enough not to provide this so as to maintain their power.  Additionally, the American public has been mainly deaf and mute as the Presidency has again and again throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, passed Executive Order after Executive Order, aggregating to the Executive Office certain immunities and privileges which has effectively neutralized and trivialized our Legislative and Judicial branches of government.

The truth of the matter is, if the Presidency is supported by the military-industrial complex of this country, and further that if the President is gifted in charisma, oratory, and has found something that represents that "devil" or evil that must be destroyed or fought against, than that President, representing the avenging angel, will be able to lure the public into his siren's song.  Sure, there will be some hue and cry from the public, but that will be drowned out by the sheep of this nation, willing to sacrifice a little freedom, for safety and their American Demagogue.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me

In Exodus 20:3 we read: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."  One could interpret this to mean, that within the society that you reside, the highest power in authority should be God, who shalt rule over his people.  That is to say, if one wishes to truly adhere to this Commandment, a valid argument can be made, that God's law trumps all.  This, in fact, encompasses the very basis of natural law, which is right reason, revealed, and applicable to all, which is the foundation of Western Civilization.

This would thereby imply to a significant degree, that the best form of Government is some form of a Theocracy or something similar that recognizes that God's law is the best form of law because, by definition, it is morally correct, immutable, applicable to all beings, and for the common good.  On the other hand, while man's law can be equally good and well applied, it is also subject to being corrupted, incorrect, wrongly applied, and a form of injustice under the guise of justice.

In today's word there are only a few countries that are Theocratic, to which, with the exception of the small city-state of Vatican City, which is Roman Catholic, the balance of all others such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Sudan, are all Islamic.  Unfortunately, Theocracies of today are, for the most part, oppressors of their subjects, arbitrary, capricious, autocratic, and suppressive.  To make matters worse, because they are Theocracies, there is little in their mindset to satiate their lusts in submitting their people to the sword of their wrongly applied Divine Justice.   This then makes a strong case that in unprincipled Theocracies, the people are in the most abject position, because when having to deal with the consequences of injustice, their appeal to the Highest Court, which is God himself, is subverted by the State.

Generally, the best Government for the people is a government that allows its citizens their freedom of conscience as to how they wish to submit themselves or to profess themselves to their faith.  This basically means, that the conception of the United States and similar countries, to which the people are afforded the free exercise of their religious persuasion without State interference or intervention is the ideal condition to which all may be afforded the opportunity to follow the Biblical command to have no other god.

Having said this, many modern western civilizations are increasingly becoming closer and closer to essentially secular states that actively oppose God and His commandments, by allowing the State, alone, to rule all as it sees fit.  The problem as seen by too many countries, today, is that they do not want their subjects to even conceive that there could possibly be a Higher Authority that they should consider answering a call to.  The State, in many nations today, wants to, in principle, to be the god to their people, and therefore it follows that they want their people to have no other gods but the State.  This is the reason why the State is so insistent, in so many cases, to stridently state that it's only fair and right that there should be a wall of separation between Church and State.   

If, in fact, God is eliminated from the public square, that God Himself is eliminated from governmental principles, there will be nothing, absolutely nothing that the State will not be permitted to do against its own subjects in its tyrannical possession of them for their own nefarious means.

They Would Kill John the Baptist, Today

There are plenty of people that profess their religious faith, be it Christian, Jewish, Islam, Buddhist, or whatever, and in all those faiths there are a special few that end up becoming great heroes and prophets, who are rightly admired by the adherents of that faith. Yet, in many instances, many of those prophets have met with ignoble ends, such as John the Baptist, who was beheaded, not only because of his powerful influence over the common people, but also as a vengeful act for the inconvenience and embarrassment that John the Baptist had caused in regards to the relationship of Herodias to her husband, Herod Antipas, who was not only her uncle but also because she had been already married, that she was in an adulterous relationship with the tetrarch of Galilee.

John the Baptist lived in the wilderness, and we learn that he: "… had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey," (Matthew 3:4). We also learn that John the Baptist was: "…preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins," (Luke 3:3).  So John the Baptist was a man that lived off of the land, with the simplest of clothing that commanded that his adherents repent so as to receive the forgiveness of their sins. 

The problem, therefore, for so many of today's Christians, is that they fail to understand that this repentance that John preached, was not something that was only applicable to people at the time of Christ's ministry, but applicable for all times, without end.  That is to say, when John the Baptist said: "… Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight," (Matthew 3:3), this was not meant to be interpreted as being of just that one certain time period, of when Christ was physically incarnated here on earth, but for all time periods, for all time, because Christ's reign is forever. 

The point is, that there are few people, that are willing to walk the way of the Cross, and to suffer, if need be, or to sacrifice, as they must, for their faith.  Far too many people today, are fair-weather Christians that merely want to hear things or to accomplish things that really don't inconvenience them and find it somewhat offensive to be preached to in such a manner, as to convict them of any wrongs or any sins, whatsoever.  But that wasn't the message of the Baptist, nor was this the message of the Christ, who upon being questioned as to what law should apply to the woman taken in adultery, told her, after the stones that had been taken up to slay her, had been cast away, that: "… neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more," (John 8:11). 

So you must therefore picture this, there is a man in the wilderness, probably not a real educated man, poorly clothed, living off of the land, and preaching this "madness" that you need to repent of your sins, so that you can thereby be baptized into repentance, and further to prepare yourself to straighten up your act so as to be worthy to receive the real baptism of the Holy Spirit.  How many of you, would really participate, and how many, on the other hand, would simply want this rather "annoying" man to just to shut-up, once and for all.

Today's world wants so badly to believe that they are so much more civilized, but beneath that surface, is a savage, a savage that is easily unleashed against those that have the audacity to make us question ourselves, and when we duly find out that indeed we are truly lacking, that in fact, we are the Pharisees of old, hypocrites, who merely look the part of being a Christian, but beneath are "…  full of greed and self-indulgence," there wouldn't be any doubt, that they would surely want to silence the Baptist, today.

The Capital Loss Limit is Way too Low

In America, virtually every financial media outlet encourages the average investor to invest in equities as his best opportunity for him to increase his net worth over time.  When the stock markets are going up, this appears to be a safe and sound strategy, but when they collapse, such as in 2008, the investor becomes well aware, that markets are far more volatile, and far less secure, than he previously imagined.  Additionally, even when markets move up, investors may have picked investments that did poorly and therefore loss money, as well as the fact, that investors can bet on either side of the market, whether it goes up or goes down, so while in general, when markets move up investors make money, your results may vary considerably.

While there aren't many people that enjoy paying taxes, all individuals would rather pay some percentage tax on a gain, rather than to have simply lost money on their investment in the first place, to which they will not owe any tax because they have instead lost money.  Fortunately, for those losers, of which at some point, every investor has experienced this, the taxpayer is allowed to write off to the maximum of $3,000 of capital losses over and above any gains that he may or may not have recognized in that fiscal year.  So if you made $10,000 on some of your investments but also loss $10,000 on some other investments, you don't have any tax liability on those investments at all.  If, you made $10,000 on your investments, but loss $13,000 on some other investments, you have a $3,000 capital loss deduction.  If, you made $10,000 on your investments, but loss $25,000 on some other investments, you are allowed to write off $3,000 in capital loss deductions, and carry-over the balance of the $12,000 loss for future years, to which you are limited to no more than recognizing a $3,000 loss in any given fiscal year.

The truth of the matter is when investors are encouraged to put their money into the stock market, year after year, in order to attain the funds necessary to retire and to thereupon live upon, is that some years are going to be bad years for investors, to which a paltry loss limit of $3,000, which has not been raised since 1976, is substantially too low.  Now in situations whereupon the market moves up, there isn't a lot of hue and cry about raising the loss limits because these  times, for most investors, are good, but those times do not ever last, and when the crash or the correction comes, $3,000, will appear to be ridiculously low.

The fact is that all the income that you make in a given year is typically treated as taxable income for that year, but because the capital loss limit is $3,000 in a given fiscal year, this means that all capital losses that you have in a fiscal year, will not be counted in that year, if those net losses are above $3,000.  While our tax code allows an unlimited capital loss carry-over, this isn't going to do a whole lot of good for a taxpayer that dies in some future year without having availed himself of all of his capital losses, nor does it do that taxpayer any good in a year in which he lost a substantial amount of money, yet is limited to only writing off $3,000 of it. 

The current tax loss limit of $3,000 is way too low, it should either be raised substantially to something like $100,000, or eliminated in its entirety, thereby allowing that taxpayer to more quickly write off a bad year in that year and not to suffer the indignity of paying more than what he really must to the tax authorities in a year to which his investments performed very poorly.

The Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obama-care was implemented with full effect in 2014.  Even without reading a word of the law, because of the fact that it is estimated to be some 11,000 pages in length and possibly many thousands more, makes this Act, by the length of the Act itself, inherently unfair and unequally applied to all.   Any law, to be a law, must be specific and understandable by the average citizen, to whom, by definition, a law with 11,000 pages could not possibly be understood by the average citizen, or I submit, by anyone, anywhere, at any time. Why the Affordable Care Act is so many pages is something that only those that authored it could possibly explained, but the basic reason would always be so as to obfuscate the issues and ultimately for the Act for be whatever, the powers-to-be wants the Act to represent. 

While, one might applaud or appreciate the desire of having Universal HealthCare for all in the United States, this Act, is in actuality, not really a HealthCare Act, in and of itself, but a new federal tax mandated upon most citizens of America under the guise of HealthCare.  The reason that we now know that this is a tax, is because, in the filing of one's Federal Taxes, there is now a column that is seen onyour Tax Software (such as TurboTax) dedicated to answering the questions in regards to your HealthCare service.  Additionally, for those that used the HealthCare.gov marketplace in order to procure their required HealthCare insurance, a Form 1095-A was issued to you for your Tax obligations for Fiscal Year 2014.

The Affordable Care Act, gets just about everything wrong, if, it is in fact suppose to be both: affordable and for the healthcare for the people, in general.  First, in regards to those people that have been paying for their HealthCare insurance either through their company employment or through their own pockets, their premiums for the same policy that they had been utilizing before the HealthCare act was implemented, for the most part, saw significant increases in their premium amounts after the HealthCare act was put into place.  Additionally, for many people, 2015, will be the last year, that they will be able to utilize the same HealthCare plan that they had been historically using with their selected HealthCare provider, before it is phased out, and subsequently they will be placed into another plan that, is in accordance with the HealthCare Act provisions, in 2016, for a higher premium.  In these cases, the HealthCare Act has done these people no good at all.  For those people that were previously without insurance, because they believed that they could not affordor didn't desired health insurance, unless they earned income that fell under the Medicaid threshold, are now instead required, by law, to have HealthCare insurance, whether they desired it or not, or to pay a monetary taxation fine for not having done so.  

There are myriad ways to provide HealthCare services to people in America, to which the Affordable Care Act is one such way, but a poorly and fatally structured one, suffering from governmental overreach, waste, lobbyist favoritism, and the like.  In point of fact, the Affordable Care Act has resolved nothing in regards to the fairness or the betterment of Health Care; it has merely made certain industries and connected people richer at the expense of most Americans, and ceded more sovereign power from the people to the Government.

Stop Complaining about Immigration, Outsourcing Is the Issue

There are plenty of Americans that complain about immigration, in particular illegal immigration, usually because they claim that immigrants take away jobs from native-born Americans and further that illegal aliens are able to avail themselves of the generosity of our welfare state.  While there is some merit in their argument, especially in regards to the welfare state, their general complaint suffers from an inability to understand that we do not live within a stagnant economic pie, that is permanently fixed in both size and benefits, to which if we did, their complaints about immigration would be valid.  The fact of the matter is that we do not live in a zero-sum society, that our prosperity is only limited by our imagination, our work ethics, our efficiency, and yes, somewhat unfortunately, the availability of ready capital.  Still, I am sympathetic to those that are struggling in their employment, and typically slash out at the most readily accessible target, immigrants, but I do believe that their anger is misplaced.

The thing is that America is the biggest economic force that the world has ever seen, to which there is no continent, and probably no country, that is not impacted or affected by some degree by what America does.   For those that are so fortunate as to have been born in this great nation, you are in the fortuitous situation of being right where the real money is at.  However, unfortunately, in today's modern society, something tragic has happened to the core of America, specifically its middle class, and subsequently their wages, along with their opportunities have often stagnated over recent years.  Additionally, America's "war on poverty" looks to be in a permanent standstill, unable to improve millions upon millions of American's lives, despite billions upon billions of dollars being set aside to do this very thing.

The highest percentage of the largest multi-national corporations in the world, are based right here in America, but the priorities of this behemoths has changed to such an extent, thatit truly can be stated, that they are "American" only in the sense to which that is their legal home of residence for financial purposes.  Somewhat disturbingly, wHowqeHowwwhen it comes to the employment of the people needed to service, sell, and make their products and wares, a significant portion of companies that we consider to be American, have done their country wrong, by deliberately outsourcing millions of jobs overseas.  This means that jobs that could easily and readily be performed right here in America, have been exported overseas, primarily because of the savings in wages, tax benefits, labor and factory concessions, or similar.  So, in short, while many complain vociferously about illegal immigrants in America, at least those immigrants are providing services to Americans on American soil, while also spending their monies earned here, primarily in America.  Whereas, for jobs that are outsourced, that money is leaving America to provide foreign employment in foreign countries, and any monies being repatriated to America, are for the most part, going into the pockets of the 1% of the 1%, and not you and me.

The outsourcing of American jobs, such as all aspects of customer service, manufacturing, data entry, and pretty much anything that you might possible imagine, is done primarily to increase profits for said Multi-national Corporation at primarily the expense of the American worker.  This means that the multi-national corporations are able to make extra money hand over fist, while sticking the government of America with the responsibility of taking care of the American public that has been left behind.