Liberty

We are fortunate to live in a country which recognizes the truth that each of its denizens are granted by their Creator the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Therefore, when we read in 2 Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” we recognize that our Declaration on Independence echoes these very wise words.  This means that the liberty that we seek, whether in this country or throughout the world and which may or may not be contained within our country's constitution of residency, will always without fail be found in the Spirit of the Lord.  That is to say that the Truth that sets us free, is not in manmade laws and justice, which may or may not be honest and fair, nor in constitutional documents which may or may not be beneficial, but always and forever will be in our surrender and acknowledgment that those that live fully in God's good grace, that they will have ultimate liberty, because they are the ones that have been up to the mountaintop, and have seen the promise land and are one with the true glory of our Lord.

Those that are attuned with the Spirit of the Lord, are always free, no matter the injustices that they may suffer, no matter the wrongs that they live under, and no matter the misguided hatred addressed against them, because they recognize that with God, all things are possible, and those that live in His fullness, will have eternal life and taste the true freedom of a dimension to which love, justice, and truth reigns over all.

On the other hand, there are far too many people that believe that true freedom along with true liberty resides in the freedom to do whatever that you want to do, whenever that you feel like doing it, and however that you want to accomplish it, but that is neither freedom nor liberty, but is instead, a form of bondage.  The problem with this type of thinking is that if you do whatever that you want to do, and another person does the same, these two false freedoms will inevitably meet one against the other, and when they do, conflict will arrive in which one party will adjudge that his freedom has been abridged, leading to a situation in which neither party will be satisfied, and neither will be free

True freedom, is the freedom to do what we ought to do, always, to which that wisdom and discipline can only come from living in the Spirit of the Lord.  If we are one with God, than we will gladly and without hesitation, take whatever cup he gives us, because in our surrender to the power that is all power, lays both our salvation as well as our liberty.  Through everything that we do, day by day, God, alone, will never forsake us; He will forever carry us, guide us, and help us, until we reach that destination that we know deep in our heart, is our eternal destiny.

The liberty that we seek, is in doing right by our fellow man, and every right deed that we do, liberates us from the delusion that ensnares us in the mistaken belief that this world is all that there is, and all that there ever will be, whereas mankind would be better served recognizing the Higher Truth, that this world is the proving ground for the next, a world without end, and with true justice and liberty for all.

Apartment Co-Operatives

Depending upon where you live in America, you may or may not be well familiar with co-operatives as a form of housing that is available for your residency.  While in many respects, condominiums and co-operatives sound as if they are virtually the same thing, there are important structural differences between the two, which may make one of these options a far better choice for a particular individual.  For instance, co-op owners are actually shareholders of the corporation which owns the complex, therefore as shareholders they hold partial ownership of the entire complex as well as having bought the right to live in one of the units, whereas condo owners own their own unit, and have rights to the common areas as permitted by the Board of Directors and the bylaws of that condo association.  Additionally, each condo unit owner has their own mortgage, whereas in co-ops, there is typically one mortgage that covers the entire complex, and any financing a proposed shareholder wishes to get comes from a share loan application to which the approval will often necessitate not only meeting the financial requirements of the co-op such as the down payment percentage, but also a face-to-face meeting with the co-op board, meaning that the overall vetting of shareholders for co-ops is often more thorough than a condo mortgage loan.

Then there is the fundamental difference in outlook between condo owners as compared to a co-op shareholder.  For most condo owners that are not members of the board, and perhaps also don't ever bother to show up or vote at board meetings, there is more of an attitude that my condo is my castle, and if you don't really mess with me, I won't in turn run riot on condo common property.  While the condo owner certainly does want to see his particular unit appreciate in price, it mainly doesn't occur to him, that there is much that he can do that will affect that price, one way or another.  Whereas, on the other hand, co-op residents, are shareholders, and if there is one thing that people understand from owning common shares in an equity that trades on the stock exchange, or by virtue of having options and knowing their actual exercise price, is that most shareholders, have a real and vested interest in seeing that share prices increase over a period of time, and thereby there is more of a mindset that we are all in this together.

Overall, on a comparison basis, co-ops are cheaper than purchasing a similar size condo, to which some of the reasons for that being so are the typically more stringent restrictions co-ops have in regards to sub-letting the unit, the higher down payment needed to qualify for the co-op, and the overall qualifications to purchase a co-op are more extensive and may also require skills in both communication and diplomacy. 

It's a good thing that co-operatives exist, and if anything, major cities should encourage the development or conversion of more apartment buildings into co-ops, as the best and most conscientious owners in any endeavor, are those that have skin in the game, such as the shareholders in co-operatives.

American Education: Dumb and Dumber

America is a country that rests on its laurels and unfortunately going forward, are absolutely dependent more and more upon geniuses from foreign countries boosting its anemic and pathetic educational accomplishments by immigrating instead to our rich, powerful, but dumb-down country.  There are no objective tests that are given worldwide in which United States high school students perform at the top of any worldwide country list, to which you can state almost with a certainty that the countries' leading those lists will absolutely dominant and crush the United States completely and thoroughly in regards to their test scores in comparison to ours.  In fact, the United States does not do much better than middling in their testing and often slips to below the median in its results, despite all the monies thrown into our educational system.  The bottom line for American educational methods is that they do not challenge their students to learn much of anything, and the test results prove it.

What is especially distressing for America is that there was a time when Americans were amongst the best and the brightest, to which many of the great Founding Fathers of our Country, had extensive classical educational backgrounds, something that is virtually unknown in today's America.  Great men, such as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, to name just a few, were masters of Greek and Latin prose, and not only were they well versed in the language itself, more importantly they knew the thoughts, the history, and the wisdom of the ancients, to which all were put to good use in the writing of, the formulating of, and belief that this country could and would one day be the beacon of freedom throughout the world.

America today, is fat, lazy, and dumb, to which it has neither the wit nor the wisdom, to be anything but an empire that will collapse upon itself.  This is a country that cares more about mindless entertainment, bullying its way because it cannot take the time to build real coalitions or to put together cogent arguments, and corrupting its citizens in such a way, that the moral compass of good ethics, civil virtue, and Biblical wisdom, has been kicked completely to the side of the road.

The educational system of America today, has really come down basically to the babysitting and the coddling of today's youth, in which the only real purpose for school appears to be, to take students off the street and away from their homes for a few hours, so that they can goof around, perhaps learn a bit through rote memory, and other than that act the fool at school. 

The time to challenge a student is when they are young and moldable, susceptible and eager to actually learn, because their minds are ready and willing to be filled with knowledge and for the opportunity to learn how to think and to apply themselves, but if the State is unwilling to insist and mandate that certain educational standards of real merit are met and achieved, but instead asks only that the students be docile and to behave like a sheep ready to be sheared, you will get a nation of sheep, ready to be led by a demagogue that will use, exploit, and ultimately control them.

America: Once the Sleeping Giant

When Japan launched its very successful surprise Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was alleged to have said: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."  One day later, Japan declared war upon America, and three days after that, Germany and Italy did likewise, forcing America from an official position of neutrality to war.  Admiral Yamamoto's words proved prophetic as the entry of America into the European as well as the Pacific theatre in war, was the beginning of the end for the Axis nations, as the military might, armaments, personnel, technology, bravery, and killing power of the United States, was to be the inflection point of World War II, and result in the utter defeat and capitulation of the Axis nations.  These men and women of that period of time were later given the well-deserved moniker of: "the greatest generation".

We are now a few generations removed from World War II, and America is still a giant, forever awake, ubiquitous in its influence throughout the entire world, and second to absolutely none in power, in wealth, and in strength.  Unfortunately, for America, as well as for the world, America is seldom the gentle giant, although it does demonstrate this from time-to-time and from place-to-place, with its generosity and compassion, but way too often America puffs up its chest, and declares to the world, in its actions and its behavior, that there is only one master, and thereby all other nations must bow to it, or suffer forth the consequences of disobedience to that which must be obeyed.

America insists upon and is a worldwide power, which necessitates bases, logistics, and personnel, all over and throughout the world.  America cares little for the sovereignty or rule of law within other countries, although they might pay lip service to it, but this is more for show, than for anything else.  America plays rough, so when in those instances, other nations show some spirit or some spine against the interests of America, America reserves the right to pay them back in its own way and in its own time, so that those that have the nerve to spat upon America, will understand that deliberate disrespect against America, will result in payback, dirty or otherwise.

America believes that what is good for America is good for the world, even if that really isn't so, and certainly America believes strongly that while it might be nice to win countries over to its side and its philosophy, it is of much more value to simply subvert democratic and constitutional governments throughout the world and to thereby influence or corrupt those in power in such countries to march to the drum of the master's fife, and let the chips fall where they may.

It isn't easy to be a competent and wise leader of the free world, especially if that means, having actual working coalitions that take into accountand consideration that other countries have their own interests, religions, beliefs, governments, and historical background, that may very well be at odds to our own.  Unfortunately, too often America is a country that demands tribute, while offering little or nothing of moral value or substance in return. 

America, is no longer the sleeping giant, but has instead morphed into the schoolyard bully, yet beneath that tough, ugly and intimidating veneer, rests not the liberty of yesteryear, but instead is found a lethargic, selfish, intolerant, ignorant, supercilious, beer-belly fool.

Aluminum Foil and Food

According to madehow.com, "Aluminum foil is made from an aluminum alloy which contains between 92 and 99 percent aluminum."  We also know that aluminum foil is commonly used for the cooking and the storage of food, as well as for food service packs, and many other everyday uses.  The thing about aluminum, though, is that as a metal it is known to be neurotoxic.  While this does not necessarily mean that the use of aluminum foil while cooking is necessarily dangerous or toxic, it certainly does mean that we should pay careful attention to our usage of such, and should probably consider some other alternatives to replace our common usage of aluminum foil in the kitchen.

The fact about cooking with aluminum foil is that as Dr. Zubaidy states, "The higher the temperature, the more the leaching. Foil is not suitable for cooking and is not suitable for using with vegetables like tomatoes, citrus juice or spices.”  It also has been demonstrated as reported by greenexaminingroom.com that: "Cooking with aluminum foil has been shown to create numerous tiny cracks and flakes in the surface of the aluminum foil as demonstrated with electron microscopy."  Taking into account this information, as well as considering that the metal aluminum is toxic, a prudent person would probably want to reduce or eliminate their cooking with aluminum foil for their own safety as well as for safety of others.

As for those that are waiting for definitive studies demonstrating that the consistent usage of aluminum foil products for the storage and/or cooking with foods is conclusively dangerous, they will probably not find satisfaction to such for a considerably long period of time.    While we can put into the hands of government, or regulatory agencies, our good health and leave the decisions for our health to them, there is a good reason too for why our Creator gave each of us discretion, judgment, and choice.

It is wise to remember that our world is filled with chemicals that we interact with each and every day, that have also become commonplace through the products that we utilize and that we even ingest.  For the most part we are oblivious to the benefits or ill effects of these chemicals or metallic substances, so that when we do become cognizant of such, it is to our benefit to make any needful adjustments to our habits to protect our good health.

Numerous recent medical studies have demonstrated a correlation between aluminum toxicity leading towards osteoporosis as well as contributing to Alzheimer's disease.  We know through these studies that we should be especially careful in reducing our exposure to aluminum via inhalation or injection as these have been scientifically demonstrated to be severe irritants to the human body, so we should be mindful that aluminum can be harmful to our body.

We live in a modern world in which we rely consistently on certain things to help provide us with our daily needs, yet, not everything that we utilize on a common basis is as safe as it should be.  When it comes to cooking and eating, we should carefully consider our process of food preparation and ingestion, keeping in mind that the better part of valor is to reduce our exposure to things that may be toxic to us, especially if the change to our habits is fairly easy to accommodate.

Worldwide Home Ownership Percentage Rate

Our government spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince its citizens that the American dream must include home ownership of some sort and has made it government policy in the past, as well as presently, to support this endeavor.  Unfortunately, as the home ownership percentage rate in America reached 69% in 2004, the qualifications for home buyers became more and more suspect, leading eventually to the housing market collapse which we suffered through and the ultimate disenfranchisement of millions of Americans from the American dream, as well as the collapse of the subprime financial markets resulting in the lost of trillions of dollars. 

What would amaze most people is the fact that the United States, which prides itself as being the best and brightest when it comes to just about everything, does not even come close to having the highest percentage of home ownership throughout the world, in fact, it isn't even close.  According to Wikipedia, countries such as Romania, Slovakia, and Lithuania have home ownership rates above 90%, while countries such as China and India are at above 85%, and even the much maligned Greece has a home ownership rate of 75%.  On the surface, this information seems to be completely unbelievable, and at the same time, it is also incredibly intriguing. 

The first thing that we can take away from these home ownership rates is the fact that clearly the richest countries in the world do not have the highest percentage of home owners.  In fact, the top three countries in private home ownership are all formerly communist nations.  This would imply strongly that when these countries became republics or similar, that the previously state-owned housing stock was sold to the people at prices that were below what the free market would have demanded and in all probability with very favorable loan terms to the buyers.  While on the one hand, this unquestionably appears to be a great deal for those that bought these homes at fire-sale prices, there must also be the recognition that once one becomes the owner of any property, that ownership entails the upkeep of said property which can include unanticipated expenses for that upkeep, to which the owner may not have the necessary funds to properly attend to.

This then leads to the point that one of the reasons why home ownership in America has hit a ceiling and seems to be stuck at the present mid 60s percentage range is that the cost of owning a home is just too much of a financial stretch for too many Americans who clearly cannot afford to buy any property no matter the price, because their assets and earnings or lack thereof, precludes them from doing so.  Additionally, a home is not liquid, it is neither something that can move should your job necessitate a move, nor is it something that can be sold at a good price, when time factors are against you.

Clearly, when taking a look at home ownership rates by country, we can conclude that home ownership rates do not correlate well with the wealth or health of the nation, which might seem surprising, given that owning a home is often seen as precursor to having "skin in the game".  However, common sense dictates that if you don't have the money or consistent employment to purchase a home, than you shouldn't, because home ownership entails a responsibility that not all can afford.

Under his Vine and Under His Fig Tree

In Micah 4:4 we read: "But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it."  Further, there are other passages in the Bible as in 1 Kings 4:25, Zechariah 3:10, and 1 Maccabees 14:12 that echo this particular passage which speaks of the peace and serenity that each of us is entitled to while living within the confines of a nation that professes its love for freedom and the brotherhood of mankind to which all are granted equal and inalienable rights.

This particular biblical passage was a favorite of George Washington, the father of our country, and therefore is of particular interest for us to meditate upon.  The fact that George Washington should find poignant meaning behind these words should say a lot to us, because Washington was not only our first President, but also the General and Commander in Chief of our armed forces; however, when it came time to reflect upon what this country meant to him, and the wisdom that he wished to impart upon us, Washington did not bring forth any of the notable biblical passages of battles, wars, and conquest, but instead found peace and serenity in knowing that the battles that were fought were for the opportunity for each man that in his day he would be able to luxuriate in peace, under the shade and guidance of our Creator, without fear that this serenity would be disrupted by outside forces or even by the State, itself.

George Washington was well aware that the peace and serenity that each of us desires deep within our psyche, could never come through the sword, but only through giving each and every American the opportunity to live in a land that embraced true freedom as well as opportunity.  George Washington and the patriot forces fought a long and protracted battle against the British forces, suffered through embarrassments, defeats, and privations, yet were able to ultimately prevail against the greatest earthly military power of that time.  While some, given Washington's position, might have luxuriated and bask upon the glory of such an improbable victory, Washington did not, as he saw himself as a man of the people, and for the people, to which the overarching objective of the war was for the United States to free itself from the stifling domestic interference from abroad, and to give to the people of this great land, the opportunity for them to enjoy the fruits of their labor without the meddling of an empire that had treated them as wayward children.

As America's supreme military leader and later as the head of its Executive branch of government, Washington did not dream of empire and conquest, but recognized instead that the greatest gift that we could give to all of mankind was the example that we demonstrated in our behavior and in our life, that a country that truly embraced the creed that all men are created equal, would not make it its policy to place its boot upon the neck of others, but instead would affirm that each of us is entitled to domestic tranquility and the serenity of sitting under our own fig tree, without fear of disturbance.

The NFL and their non-guaranteed Contracts

The NFL has the biggest profits of any league, has the highest revenues of any professional league, and the largest valuations of any professional American sport.  You would think that with all that money that the 32 privileged owners of this sport, might have the luxury of providing the players of this very violent sport with fair compensation which would include, guaranteeing the contracts that the players sign with management, but that would be far from the actual case in fact.  The owners, not too surprisingly, see football as a business, and as a business they are loath to want to “guarantee” large sums of money to players when the owners know that players’ careers are capable of essentially ending on any given play within the brutal collusions that are part of this sport as well as the players aging incredibly fast so as to make their value to management diminish considerably.

In the NFL, guaranteed contracts are up to the owner’s discretion, and at their discretion, the owners collectively have decided almost in unison, that the guaranteed part of the contract should be minimized which is, obviously, of enormous benefit for the control of labor expenses for management but a disservice to the players themselves who invariably in almost every case, will never see the money that they are earning in the NFL in any other part of their life while seeking to continue to making a living.  This means, that should a player be cut or injured, often times, the balance of money due to them, that is to say all monies of his contract that are not guaranteed to be his, will often times, disappear. 

The go-to excuse that owners use for the minimizing of guaranteed contracts is that they are required to fund unpaid fully guaranteed contracts into escrow so as to ensure the payment to the players involved, but in actuality, that so-called issue, is something that could easily be mitigated by the structuring of bonds, loans, or material assets, as being pledged against the monies that are due to the players.  In addition, as one might imagine, the franchise owners are invariably some of the most richest, successful, and privileged people in all of the world, hardly lacking in credibility, or access to money, with financial advisors and legal staff that would be easily capable of structuring whatever needed to be done in such a manner so as to satisfy guaranteed contracts.

The issue of the paucity of guaranteed contract money in comparison to the actual size of the contracts as announced to the media, comes down to the simple fact that the owners wish to maximize their leverage, their flexibility, and to improve their bottom line, by essentially reneging on contracts with the players, with minimal penalties or fallout to the ownership itself. 

One must remember, there are only 32 owners in the NFL, in which they are all familiar with the other, and pretty much all of them have the same basic idea, which is to maximize their profit and worth, without placing themselves in the unenviable position of paying money to players who are broke-down, too old before their time, or useless to their enterprise.  The owners, unlike the players, are here to stay, whereas the players are just a commodity which value of such clearly fluctuates. 

While playing in the NFL can be very lucrative for those that make the grade, the fact that so many players have had their careers terminated by injuries and suffered too the ill effects of the game long after their career is over; it seems a clear injustice that when it comes to collecting their final negotiated paycheck that there often isn’t the promised money for them there.

The Importance of Steady and Consistent Work Hours

In America, your basic employee is considered to be full-time if they work forty hours week after week, and most employees are dependent upon those hours of service and thereby their pay being consistent from one week to the next.  In point of fact, with so many Americans living paycheck to paycheck, there is often a very valid need for many employees to be able to count upon their paycheck consistently being for the same amount and covering the same time periods, paycheck after paycheck.  For those fortunate enough to work under these types of conditions, after a relatively short period of time, you learn to bank upon receiving your paycheck for the expected amount which leads to more success in budgeting your funds and your free time as desired.

Over and above the amount of hours, that Americans work each week and receive compensation for, there is often a desire for most employees to have consistent and expected working hours from one week to the next, in which typically the ideal working condition for most employees is to just have a consistent working schedule which doesn't ever change.  Again, in situations in which you know how many hours that you are going to work, and you know what times during the workday that you will be working, this will allow employees to schedule and plan out other activities and needs that are required to be accomplished in their day-to-day living of everyday life.

Unfortunately, not everybody can count on either consistent hours, nor can they count on consistent shifts, so that there are many employees that do not know for a certainty how many hours that they will be given to work in a given week, nor do they know for a certainty the actual hours that they will be working in a given week.  While, to a certain extent, not knowing these vital things might be OK for those that have no real responsibilities, such as people fresh out of school, with no children, or family obligations, for the vast majority of people, this can be instead a rather annoying burden.

First off, it is impossible to have a reliable budget, if you simply do not know how much money that you are going to make paycheck to paycheck, and as bad as that is, it's even worse for those that have children that are in daycare, or children that have other school activities that necessitate some parent being available, in which, as a parent, you may have to make a choice to sacrifice hours at work, in order to be a responsible parent to your children.

The fact of the matter is that employers in many cases decide on their own as to how many hours you will or will not work, and the actual hours that you will work, without necessarily being interested in your actual preferences, needs, input, or desires.  Now, in most cases, a good employer actually does want to coordinate with you, but they often aren't required by law to do so, and unless their actions violate the Fair Labor Standards Act or their own employer manual or something similar, that is just the way it is going to be.

This means that not only do a significant amount of employees work under at-will laws, which essentially mean that they can be terminated at any time, they also work with inconsistent hours and schedules, yet they invariably receive bills and have obligations which have specific set times and amounts that are due.  Is it any wonder then that so many of the working class are forever in a state of indebtedness that offers little or no hope of any respite.

The Immaculate Conception

We're heard the story of the Virgin Mary's immaculate conception so many times, that one has the tendency to just take it for granted, even though there are implications that are of immense importance to all of us, especially those of the faith.  For instance, the Virgin Mary was espoused to the carpenter, Joseph, this meant that although their marriage was not yet consummated, that they were in the light of Jewish law, considered to be married.  This is why we read in Matthew 1:18-19, that: "…When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily."  This clearly signifies that in the eye of the law, that Joseph was the husband of Mary, which then brings to mind, if the child, Jesus, was from the Holy Ghost, whatever was the point of Mary being espoused to anyone, let alone a good, righteous man such as Joseph.  To this it can be said, that this goes back to the story of Adam and Eve, and that the good Lord had already stated that: "…It is not good that the man should be alone…" indicating that in the natural order of things that the birth of any child, even one of divinity, should include one mother and one father, sincerely dedicated to each other, to the exclusion of all others, and further that the selection of Joseph was done to fulfill prophecy that the Messiah would be from the house of David.

Joseph was well aware that Mary was of special status, as she was a temple virgin, for the great honor and dignity of being the woman that would bring forth the Messiah, is not something that could be accomplished by anyone other than one that was dedicated to God, Himself, and further that Mary had previously proven herself as to being devout and of proper comportment while living within that temple.  Joseph, himself, was also special, being a "just man", to which we read in Ecclesiastes 7:20 "For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin," indicating distinctly how difficult it was to find a just man, yet Joseph was that just man.  Further to this point, Joseph knew well the character of the Virgin Mary, and upon his receiving the news that his wife was with child, heard and obeyed the angel of the Lord, that their child was indeed conceived by the Holy Ghost, a charge that would seem absolutely preposterous to all but the strongest and wisest man.

It is well to remember that our God is master of it all, and when it came time to present Jesus to us on earth, he chose to bring his birth purposely through the virgin Mary who had dedicated her life to serving God, and further she was espoused to a just man, also of great merit, Joseph, to which both parents would be in unison the mother and father of the Christ.  The Bible is clear that Jesus was not conceived through normal conception but came into this world as the new Adam, to redeem humankind from the madness and misconception that the material life is the only reality, whereas Jesus clearly demonstrated over and over again, that with God, all things are possible, and that therefore mankind limits itself when it cannot conceive that of whom we really are, which is surely not the physical temple which is temporal, but insteadshould embrace our real identity which is the eternal spirit within.

The Virgin Mary became the vessel for the deliverance of our savior, not from selfishness, greed, or material desires, but only because she surrendered herself wholly to God's infinite grace and wisdom and thereby was rewarded with the most precious gift that any mother could ever have.

Technology: Harm and Culpability

We live in a powerful hi-tech era in which those that can imagine certain products and instruments can often bring those thoughts into successful fruition; so that today we often find that just about anything that we can desire that intrudes upon the space and privacy of an individual or entity can be successfully produced. This means that given this background information, it can now be stated for the first time in history, that if the government or other unknown powerful entities want to track a particular individual or group of individuals in such a manner so as to hear, see, and know everything actionable being done by that individual or entity, there is little that the particular individual or entity can do to protect themselves from this intrusiveness. 

While on the one hand, this might bring satisfactory smiles to the faces of certain government officials that we can keep track of and monitor the "bad guys", the fundamental problem with this sort of smug attitude, is that this is the exact same power that can correlate, process, and analyze anybody, without limits, and that therefore we have created, whether deliberately or not, a government bureaucracy and power which is a law unto itself.

Yet through all of this that is being created, is not created without human intelligence and human input, which means that there are many men and women that while conducting their work and research, know that the tools that they are creating and perfecting, are tools that in the hands of irresponsible people, have the absolute capability of immense harm to individuals and are inimical to the very principles of this republic. 

It would then be far too easy to let these creative geniuses off, with an acknowledgment that anybody's work can be used for harm, and that they therefore are entitled to do their best within the parameters of their job, unless they are knowingly aware that what they are working on or pursuing is something that is clearly illegal or morally suspect.  That, my friends, is the type of fallacious reasoning, which simply is another way of stating that it's not my responsibility, nor my fault, that somebody, somehow, uses my input and work for harm, even though there are obvious cracks in that mirror.

The main reason why people will hide behind this sort of self-justifying reasoning is so that they can wash their hands of all ill effects of their work, such as Pilate washing his hands, before rendering his decision that the Christ must be crucified, while stating that; "I am innocent of the blood of this just person," even though he held the power to stay the execution.

It can be stated that those that create the technology that is ultimately used in such a manner so as to harm their fellow human beings, or as an aid in order to persecute those that are considered to be an inconvenience to the State, are in effect, culpable for what they have wrought.  It isn't any good to put your head in the sand and pretend that you don't know what you really do know, or to state to yourself, that these things are beyond your pay grade or other lame or vacillating excuses.  Any corrupt empire runs on the willingness of others to serve them, rightly or wrongly, for good pay or not, and each of us must therefore ask the question each and every day, to what power or principality that it is we will serve.

Psalm 22 and the Christ

The reading of psalm 22 is erringly prophetic of the later passion of the Christ, this therefore makes this particular psalm attributed to King David of especially intriguing promise, as the Christ, Himself, is considered to be of Davidic lineage.  Psalm 22:1 begins with: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” which echoes exactly Matthew 27:46 “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  In Psalm 22:7 we read that “All they that see me laugh me to scorn”,  while in Matthew 27:39 it says: “And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads.” Further, it goes on in Psalm 22:8 to say: “He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him,” to which we read in Matthew 27:43 “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him.”  At Psalm 22:18 it is said: “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture,” which is echoed in Matthew 27:35 as: “….They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.” Finally, in Psalm 22:31: “They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this," which in itself is the history and legacy of living Christianity itself.

The fact that the reading of Psalm 22 in which it clearly has parallel passages as stated in the New Testament, means of a certainty, that the gospel writers were well familiar with the Psalms, meaning too that their audience in turn were probably familiar with such, and that the parallelism in the New Testament that affirms Psalm 22 was absolutely purposeful for the uplifting of the Christ consciousness to all.  This signifies that the gospel writers, who affirmed in other Biblical passages that the Christ was indeed the chosen one as prophesied, affirm this further by drawing upon this particular Psalm and stating in effect,  through parallel passages that Jesus the Christ fulfilledthis by his passion play.

In point of fact, the reading of Psalm 22, reads compellingly well as the precursor of the Christ, his atoning grace, his ultimate victory, and his righteousness.  The fit, form, and function as presented in this Psalm are so profound, that multiple readings of it as well as referrals within the Bible are necessitated by it.  While mankind often struggles to make sense of the present time, let alone future events, the Bible foreshadows the future for those discerning enough to understand it.  This means, that the good book, holds in its pages the enduring eternal wisdom of God, Himself.

Even more to the point, although the Passion Play is clearly shown and described in Psalm 22, the overriding point that God wishes to impart to us, His children, is the object lessons of Christ, Himself.   Those lessons demonstrated by His actions here on earth, included: submission and surrender to God and to His omniscient wisdom, the recognition that your body is just a vessel which houses God consciousness but is not God Himself, that there is but one Truth, that the kingdom of God welcomes all, that the peace that we desire can only come from those that are at peace with themselves, that love trumps a multitude of sins, that we must do right by our neighbor because our neighbor is a reflection of all that we and our community are, and finally to have the faith of a child of the most-high God, recognizing that God is indeed our Father, and will never slumber nor be satisfied, until each and every one of His children rests peacefully in the bosom of His enduring and comforting love.

It's the Best of Times and the Worst of Times for Blacks

In 1963, George Wallace proclaimed: "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever", and later Wallace would run for the Presidency in 1968, and actually carry five States.  Now, nearly fifty years later, there are not very many people today that would believe that anyone preaching a policy of racial segregation would be taken seriously, nor would that person have even a modest chance of winning any State in America.  Further to this point, overt racism has basically been pushed into the dustbins of society, leaving us more with covert or unintentional racism which exists into the present day.

This means that the days of blacks being castigated with racial slurs and slights deliberately made against them have been minimized to an extent not previously seen in America and that this melting pot of a nation has truly begun to leave up to that creed.  Blacks have made tremendous progress in America, so that we now see them at the pinnacles of educational, religious, financial, entertainment, and political power throughout the United States.  This means that opportunities that previously had precluded blacks from climbing the social ladder have been opened to them, and whereas it certainly is not a level playing field, blacks at least are on the field of dreams with a chance to shine.

However, despite all the progress and laws that have been passed in America, blacks statistically are still on the short end of the stick in virtually every economic, educational, and justice level.  While we can take great pride in embracing our successful black brothers that have succeeded in America, to which they often can state truthfully that their skin color has not been a barrier to their own success, there are still way too many multitudes of blacks that cannot make that same assessment and have subsequently been left behind.

The United States has an obligation that all people within its borders have equal and fair chances for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and further to this point, America has a special obligation to see that those that were previously held in servitude are given full and complete access to their inalienable rights which were wrongly denied to them upon birth.  This means that the mere appearance of fairness is not fairness, that fairness must come from being equally applied to all, so that in situations such as in our public educational system, we have in effect, separate and unequal public school systems, in which some are able to go to schools of high educational quality and inherent safety, whereas others are stuck within schools of low educational achievements and chaos.

We can therefore easily say that these are the best and worst times for blacks, because if you are black and live in the right neighborhood, with the right infrastructure and social benefits, your chance of success and of having a life of value are appreciably better than those unfortunate poor people that live on the wrong side of the tracks.  So that, if one hundred years ago it came down simply to a white vs. a black divide, these masks have been ripped off, and today the division is now almost exclusively social class, or rich vs. poor, with the color of one's skin being of far less relevance to the ruling class. 

European football will have inter-country play

European football, the sport that is commonly called soccer here in America, will eventually have inter-country play between the respective big leagues, such as the Spanish La Liga, the English Premier League, the German Bundesliga and so forth.  The leagues currently do not have inter-country league play, although in regards to tournaments such as the Champions League tournament, which takes the best clubs in all of Europe and has them face off in a tournament format until one team stands alone as the champion, along also with the UEFA Europa cup, which takes teams of a slightly lesser stature, into a similar format as the Champions League are played on a yearly format.

These tournaments are both popular and desired by the viewing public because they stand as a testing point as to which European team stands tallest amongst them all and thereby has the bragging rights and financial rewards for having done so.  However, these are tournament inter-country challenges in which the results will not affect the domestic standings of the respective country’s teams.  It seems to me, if Europe is able to pretty much unite under one common currency than the leagues themselves should also begin to take the steps to challenge one another for supremacy during the regular season across borders.

While the European soccer leagues at the top level follow the format of a simple home and away game against every other team in their respective league, with the team accumulating the most points, being declared the champion, there isn’t any reason why a couple extra games of inter-league inter-country play could not be added to the official league standings. 

The best way to start this proposed format change is to begin relatively modestly with basically each team being given a seeded rating, to which teams of comparable quality would face off against the other, so that what you would get would be something like Real Madrid v. Manchester City, rather than Read Madrid v. Sunderland.  Immediately, one might criticize this as merely being a repeat of current tournament matchups which is somewhat valid, but doesn’t take into account that the lesser teams would also get to participate by facing others of a similar class, nor does it take into account that the players themselves want to test their skills against their respective counterparts in other leagues, again and again, and would be extremely motivated to perform well.

This proposed inter-country regular season play, would be a winner on every level, as the players, the fans, the club owners, the advertisers, and the broadcasters would all be strong supporters of this extra competition and the additional revenue stream.  It is absolutely critical that the inter-country games count in the standings, as that would give these contests validity.  One does get tired of hearing about how such and such league is the best in the world, and mere talking, or even a tournament of champions is not enough to make that a definitive statement, whereas a true league competition, would demonstrate the depth and strength of each league and those results would tell the tale.

Death, Taxes, and Student Loans

It has been said that two things are absolutely invariable in life, and that is death and taxes, which is absolutely true, no matter how primitive or how civilized your culture is, you will as a matter of course have to pay some sort of tribute for being part of it, voluntarily or not, and your physical body will die.  In today's world, we can now safely add to those words of wisdom for most of today's generation: student loans.  As reported by consumerfinance.gov: "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that outstanding debt is approaching $1.2 trillion as of May 2013."  This amount of student debt exceeds the amount of total credit card debt and is second only to mortgage debt, where in the case of mortgages, at least that debt is securitized by the homes themselves which have intrinsic value.

Since at no point in America's history, have so many students had so much debt, we don't know for a certainty how it will end, but we can almost say with certainty that it will not end well.  This means that the whole issue of student loans will eventually come home to roost, to which there will be some winners and some losers.  The winners, at least initially, will be the schools themselves, which have reaped lion's shares of profits and growth on the backs of young adults that clearly do not have a real comprehension of what they signed up for and their attendant financial responsibilities to it.  Also, in the winner groups are the auxiliary employees of these schools as well as the businesses that are the beneficiaries of more people attending college, in addition to the banks and student loan lenders such as Sallie Mae.  The losers, are the students, especially the ones that don't even get a graduate degree, next would be those that get a graduate degree but in actuality never really use it or under-utilize it in their employment, and finally the losers would also be all other businesses that would have seen dollars earned by those that once were collegiate students, instead of being spent on their goods and wares, are instead siphoned off to service their student debt.

Then there is the final loser of all and that always is the entity that is last in line, in this case, those stuck holding aging bonds of securitized student loans or similar that has no real collateral behind them and minimal appreciable value.  Ultimately, those loans will default, or become discounted to such an amount that it will be the equivalent of a default, and then the Federal government will have to swoop in and clean things up, only the problem is, the Federal government, in essence, despite all the smoke and mirrors that they use day by day, is the people of the United States, so in point of fact, the people that were responsible in their financial matters as well as being good citizens, will pay for the faults of those that probably should have never attended school in the first place, while subsidizing those that made it their business to prey upon the young and gullible.

Your Social Security Number Should Not be used as Identification

Each American citizen is assigned a social security number, which is only nine digits in length, and routinely we are asked to give out the last four digits of our social security number to credit card companies, cell phone companies, utility companies, and so forth, all as a basic form of ID.  The problem with the de facto usage of a social security number as your national ID, is the number itself, is given out too frequently to way too many entities, in which if the nine digits of your social security card should be compromised by those of nefarious principles, this will wreck incredible havoc on your life, your identity, and your ability to use and to sustain credit, with these types of data breaches being routinely accomplished successfully all of the time.

The fact of the matter is that federal laws should be passed, acted upon, and enforced, precluding your social security number as ever being used for identification purposes, which was something that was once printed upon social security numbers when they were issued when they clearly stated: "for social security purposes--not for identification".  It doesn't take a genius to recognize, that banking entities recognized the convenience of making it their policy to get consumers to divulge their social security numbers since each social security number uniquely identified that individual, even though, uniquely identifying individuals could have been done in myriad ways, but that might have involved a bit more legwork for the banks.

Instead, citizens of the United States have been placed into a situation, to which they can do little to protect and to properly secure their unique social security number and thereby they are at risk at having their identity and their credit resources of being compromised at any given time.  The way to prevent this from happening is to turn back the clock and to stop posthaste the use of social security numbers as ID.  Think about this, a credit card is sixteen digits long, with a date code, and a special 3-digit code, to which you also need to know the billing zip code, and these cards are routinely compromised all of the time. Yet, consumers fortunately have protection for credit cards that are used by unauthorized people, with the banks and merchants losing billions of dollars each year to credit card fraud.  

Since, the social security card is normally used as the foundation for the application of credit, a sophisticated thief, with your social security number, could steal thousands of dollars from unwitting merchants and banks, destroying your credit as well as compromising your ID, forcing you to spend a considerable amount of time and energy just to recover your identity; which could take years to successfully accomplish, with lots of paperwork and notarized documents necessary, just to get back to normal.

Your social security number is too short, uses only numeric characters which makes it fundamentally flawed, and it is virtually impossible to reasonably protect, yet it is used time and time again as your ID, which simply exacerbates the entire problem.  America is the richest nation in the world, and the social security number is the foundational key for the unauthorized attainment of those riches by those who know how to exploit our current system, with billions of dollars awaiting them as their unjustified reward.

Why the White Man Fears the Black Man

There is a fundamental reason why the white man fears the black man, and that is the often the perception by whites that the black man can hurt him.  Of course, the question then becomes as to why the white man would have that sort of perception, and certainly it has a lot to do with the fact that unlike the American Indian, which the white man essentially eviscerated and marginalized in such a way that the American Indian, will almost certainly never rise again in America, the black race was not eradicated but instead was freed from slavery.  Then, despite political efforts by those in authority, of returning the black man back to Africa or re-settling them in Central America or similar, the black man in response showed little interest in those ideas but insisted that their adopted country, the country that they were born into, the nation that they shed their blood upon, was their country too, and essentially asked only that they have a place at the table, and in return accepted the promissory note due to them.

Unfortunately, since the liberation of the black race given by the Emancipation Proclamation, the black man received, in many instances, far less than what was deserving to him, and consequently, lived in a land that offered them far less liberty, far less justice, far less happiness, and far less prosperity.  That these things have been denied the black man simply because of the color of his skin, or to a certain extent based on his former status of perpetual servitude, is a great sin across this nation.  The thing that the white man recognizes all too well is that God's justice does not slumber forever and he rightly fears God's retribution, while projecting wrongly that fear onto the black man.  What the man white fails to recognize is that the sword of avenging justice will not come from the black man's hand, it cannot be, but only from He who is righteous judgment, itself.

 Having said that, the righteous hand of God's justice can be stayed, by taking actions that mitigate and rectify previous bad behavior, as even the right behavior of a few can save an entire city, as well as an entire country.  The frustration that any man can feel, stems often from injustices and opportunities denied, and should these things be amended to in any satisfactory way, the accompanying results are quite beneficial for all.

The black man asked the question many years ago, "am I not a man and a brother," and to this question the only satisfactory answer is yes.  When the white man believes in their collective hearts that the answer is yes, and must be yes, then the fear that so many white men have of their black brothers will lift as if a fog lifting from a early spring day into the bright sunshine of a better day and a renewal of that vow and self-evident truth that indeed all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with specific unalienable rights.

United States and its Insane Defense Budget

The United States in fiscal year 2015 will spend approximately $813.9 billion on defense, according to usgovernmentspending.com. If anything, that number probably understates the true cost, and most certainly the legacy cost of our soldiers who are involved in logistics, skirmishes, wars, and whatnot in foreign lands.  The amount of money that is spent to defend the United States is completely out-of-control and completely unnecessary as there are no credible threats against American national security whatsoever, nor is there are credible threat against America in the near future. 

While it is one thing to have the troops, resources, and budget to protect America on America's shores, it is an entirely different thing, to protect international corporations, foreign countries which have friendly relations with America, and to be in general, the world's policeman and military governing force throughout the entire world.  America has a significant amount of troops in Germany, Japan, and South Korea, in which these countries are more than capable of protecting their own without the need of our aid or personnel.  So too does America have bases all over the entire world, including such countries as Great Britain, Spain, and Italy, of which each of these countries could simply take over these bases, as is.  Additionally, the United States has at least ten aircraft carriers which are deployed around the world, ever ready, to do battle in order to protect American interests abroad.

While it certainly makes sense for the United States to want to hold onto certain bases throughout the world, especially ones of strong strategic importance, the more that the United States gets involved in foreign meddling and influence, the more monies, personnel, and danger that we put our soldiers into.  According to cato.org: "The United States has over 200,000 troops stationed in 144 countries and territories. At any given time, it usually has another 20,000 sailors and Marines deployed afloat on Navy ships."  This is an absolutely stupefying amount of personnel that are overseas for no good reason, especially given that America has good relations with every major country in the world, and that therefore the chances of any truly global war are absolutely minimal. 

America has placed itself into serious debt in order to provide both "guns and butter" to its citizens, but in reality, it is a deceitful lie to the American people.  The American people are on the hook for this unserviceable debt, under the misimpression that the tremendous monies spent on our military is for the "defense" of America, which it most certainly is not.  The monies that are spend on our defense budget, are primarily monies spent to service the military-industrial complex, the grandiose dreams of an empire, the lust for global power, and as unpaid protection money and personnel for well connected international corporations.

Our defense budget as it stands today could be seriously slashed by significant double-digit numbers with the world and America being better off because of it, if we simply divested ourselves of unnecessary troops and foreign bases throughout the world.  The United States is the signature member of the United Nations as well as of NATO, to which the United States would do its own country a massive service, it instead of trying to pretend it should be responsible for the entire world military security, truly shared that responsibility with its fellow member nations.

The Future of Televised Poker is No Limit Heads Up

While it is somewhat questionable to call poker a sport, it is classified as such, and as any real sports fan knows, if you are a real fan, you have to watch the sport of your choice, live.  The fact of the matter is if you already know the result of the sporting event thereby your interest, your emotions, your excitement, will be appreciably less than watching the sport live.  That is why television contracts are so huge for major sports because there is an embedded audience that is dedicated to watching that sport and advertisers appreciate eyeballs that are engaged and actually watching their TV in real time.

The thing about poker is that although there are myriad ways that one can get their poker fill, such as through podcasts, webcasts, and recorded broadcast programs, the fact of the matter is, because of the structure of poker tournaments, not to mention the incredible amount of downtime in poker tournaments in which there doesn't appear to be anything happening, other than time wasting, posturing, and blind stealing, is that poker in its current tournament structure is way too long in length of time, and way too boring for most of the hands, that even the most die-hard poker aficionado basically wants to "cut to the chase".

This means that poker has a fundamental problem which is that the people most interested in poker TV programs, often have a general idea as to who is/isn't going to make the final table, as well as the result, which takes away a lot of the drama in watching the program to begin with, because the broadcast being shown, is often weeks after the actual event was already concluded.  Additionally, the fields of the biggest poker tournaments are so deep, this often means, that the final table participants are unknown to a significant amount of the viewing audience, which cuts down on those that want to watch players that they are familiar with.  Basically, having too many players in a tournament, while it does create a very healthy prize pool, just takes too long to come to a conclusion, so with the exception of just broadcasting the final two or three players left, under live conditions, doesn't really work and won't ever generate jaw dropping viewing numbers.

However, poker could become a sport that could easily be televised live or essentially under a very short delay of just minutes, if the structure of the sport was changed.  The first change is that the game as televised would be only played player v. player, aka heads up, and in no other form.  Secondly, the blinds would increase not by a time clock, but by the number of hands played, so that, for instance, after every 10th hand, the blinds would increase.  Next, a time clock, would be initiated, on every hand, and on every street of every hand, with perhaps an option to extend the clock, two or three times during the tournament for each player. 

If these aforementioned changes were made, and then executed in real time tournaments to crystallize the actual structure of the game, then you would have a situation in which the broadcasters would have a real good idea of the typical length of the game, and could slot a window for it.  While there would be times, when because of the structure being no limit, that the game could end suddenly and quickly, as it is with a knockout in boxing, the broadcaster would have a contingency in place to fill in those unexpected minutes, while also knowing that because of the blind structure and time limits imposed that the game itself could not extend much beyond fifteen minutes longer than allocated.

Prison and Humiliation

Becoming arrested and going to prison would not be something that would be on anybody's "bucket list" but in this country that incarcerates its population at the highest rate (or possibly the 2nd highest rate after Seychelles) per every 100,000 people in the entire world, this then must be seen as something that is much more than a distant possibility in America, but as something indeed that no matter your circumstances or your station in life could happen to you.

While incarceration may mean a lot of things to a lot of different people, in America, incarceration at its most fundamental basis, is humiliation, to which those that imprison you will make sure that you are quite aware that they are your masters, and you are their subjects, in which your previous identity, your God-given humanity, will be eviscerated in short order.  For instance, most prisons make it as part of their policy, that all prisoners are stripped-search before entering into the general population in prison. 

In the scheme of things, throughout your entire life, there are no social situations to which you are subjected to a strip search, and even when you visit a medical doctor, a degreed professional, his search of any of your body orifices is expressly done with your permission and done so with as much dignity that can be presented to you in these types of situations, recognizing that the medical doctor is there to support and to help you in your maintenance of good health.  A strip search in prison, is however, something of an entirely different milieu, of which the ostensible reason is to search your body cavities for contraband, but the reality is that the prison authorities find that strip searches are a quick way to establish clearly to prisoners, that prisoners have no inherent rights in regards to dignity or privacy and that this purposeful humiliation is there to break their spirit and their willfulness.

In today's high technology world, strip searches, with the possible exception of incorrigible prisoners should not be permitted, unless a positive is shown when running the handheld security wand over a person's body.  This would seem to be a fairly reasonable way to doa search so as to verify that no contraband was coming into the prison, whereas the current strip search, despite what the Supreme Court justices stated in the Florence v. Burlington case, should be seen for what it really is, "an unreasonable search".

As bad as strip searches are for males, they are even more invasive and traumatic, quite obviously for females, to which not only are they required to be topless, but they are also forced to sit onto a chair and to spread their vaginal lips for inspection.  Further, when it comes to feminine hygiene in prisons, many prisons do not provide tampons for their female prisoners, free of charge, but instead these must be purchased through the commissary or provided through an inmate package program. 

For those that believe that strip searches are naturally appropriate for all prisoners, ask yourself this one thing, would you still believe it right, if it was your mother?