In Charge

Somehow the morons have been put in charge of this country. Every day new evidence is reported by the absent minded media as spin, prejudice, and bias. Our legislatures are full of crooks, con artists, and clowns. The federal agencies are run by special interests with little interest in maximizing the benefits to anyone but themselves. The military has been turned in a social engineering workshops. Corporate america has been converted to theifdoms. Labor has been scuttled by the lazy. Education has been relegated to the mindless. Even science has abdicated it role as investigator to that of inquisitor and defender of the faithless. Welfare populated by the fraudulent. Even the general population is devolving to the point of the lowest common denominator. The self-appointed revolutionaries are in lockstep with the brain dead, entitlement mentality generation of indoctrinated propagators of failed governance practices.  The economic calamity facing the world has been fostered by incompetent money managers taken advantage of by the immoral, and postponed by the politicians until it finally becomes a catastrophe.

Pink Slime

I don't know what the brouhaha was about. Given the cost of raising, slaughtering, processing and distributing real beef in addition to the nanny state and activist activities real beef is going to become a thing of the past. Pink slime will soon become the product of choice by the Feds and liberals.  All of you megalopolis residents will have little choice and most of the population of the third world would only hope for some slime or something to slip into their diet.

Laws

Obedience of the law, established by a society, is the basis of order in that society. Disobedience or the disregard of any given law is the basis for disorder in any society. America was established on the premise of law and order with the full knowledge that obedience by its citizen's was essential to it success as a state in the world of governments. America's future as a state is in doubt because its citizen's are unwilling to subjugate their wants and desires to the needs of the state and in respect for the rights of their fellow citizens. In this country laws are enacted by democratic principles and can be changed by the same principles. If the current or future resident's of the United State of America want to withdraw from the Judea-Christian values of it founding citizen's and subscribe to some other secular values, that is possible through the law, but to disregard the law by civil disobedience, fraud, and deceit is a guarantee that a non-democratic process and uncivil acts will result and the outcome will be less than favorable for nearly everyone.

A lawless society is rapidly developing throughout the so-called civilized world. The perpetual willingness of a few to not subscribe to law and order is being fostered by an ever increasing ambiguity towards enforcing tried and true laws rules and regulations. This is a result of democracy. Indecision and uncertainty is a consequence of subscribing to the notion that the majority knows best and that the rights of the individual is somehow important.  When in fact the majority is not always right, most of the time it is misguided, and nearly all individuals are obsessed by self-interest.

The rise of fascism is a natural consequence to ambiguity and uncertainty. The problem is that benevolent dictators don't really exist and if they did they eventually die and are replaced by individuals that are motivated by power and greed which leads to attempted oppression and atrocities. However, there is a problem of scale, command, and control faced by any fascist.

Where do we go from here?  I have an idea but it is too involved for this post.

Belief

The french philosopher Frederic Bastiat argued that "it is injustice instead of justice that has existence". There is an urban legend which states that evil is the absence of God, cold the absence of heat, and darkness the absence of light.

My argument is that  injustice, darkness, and cold are this existence and it is only by the presence of God that heat, and light are created and justice is possible.  Which brings me to the conundrum of creation. What created God or did God create evil? There is never a point of beginning which does not beg the fact of what existed before that. There is never a point in existence which does not require everything to exist first. So either God is without beginning or existence is devoid of substance which would be nonexistence.

Consequently the presence of God is what creates light, heat, and justice in an existence which is dark, cold and unjust and is governed by a natural process, called entropy, which is bound to return all active mater to the state of cold, dark and unjust. The concept of evil is simply man's quantification of injustice. God does not have to create evil because injustice is coincidental as is darkness, and cold.

As explained scientifically, the absence of light is the measure of darkness and the absence of heat is the measure of cold apparently to some point that nothing exists. Because justice is a subjective measurement of man in relation to his well being it has become the paradox of good and evil. However, it is difficult to account for all evils of man as a motive to rectify injustice.

I, for one, recognize the presence of light, heat, and justice and, as a consequence, I  believe that God exists as opposed to believing that this existence came come from nothing.  Unlike the disbelievers I don't think I know more that God an am unwilling to disregard the notion that a supernatural entity has to exist to alter nature as we know it.

Greece

The children have taken over, the insane are in charge of the asylum, and the liberals are firmly in contact with absurdity. It is beyond comprehension but not belief that adults, although not rational, can actually believe money can be printed or digitized, debts repudiated or amortized by inflation, accountability negated or retribution avoided, and all will be well.

It is the immoral leading the ignorant. It is the sycophant politician placating the indulgent population. It is the epitome of absurdity. And it might be funny if it didn't lead to tragedy. The history of the world is replete with examples of individual greed and mass suffering. Greece is apparently the opening scenes of the next example. Before everything is over the economic meltdown is going to result in chaos and large scale discomfort. I can only hope that it doesn't lead to mass suffering at the hands of a few truly evil people as has been the case in the past.

Faith

My definition of Faith:  The understanding of the existing, the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.

I do not subscribe to science because it does not explain the unseen which seems to exist in spite of the lack of evidence. I do not prescribe religion because it does not explain the real world but because it explains the spiritual existence of the real world. I seek understanding which may lead to increased knowledge. I seek faith which may lead to the revelation of the unseen.

I can plant but I cannot grow. I can see but I cannot create. I can exist but I cannot endure. I cannot comprehend existence coming from non-existence nor can I comprehend the spark of life which animates the matter of this existence. This leads me to believe in the unseen, to hope for eternal life, and have faith that it will be in my best interest.

To say that God has faith limits God to the status of temporal man. God has all knowledge. God created faith for man so that he might have hope and as the preeminent evidence of his existence. The bible is too easily changed, misinterpreted, and misunderstood.  Even the Book of Mormon with its purported miraculous inception is too easily dismissed, discounted, and disdained to be the definitive proof of God.

Stephen email

I have watched the BYU presentations.  They are too orthodox for me. They never question anything or discuss alternative interpretations.They are literalists and have to ignore, rationalize, or justify the scriptures when it comes into conflict with reality i.e. geologic time and the changing mores of a society that does not believe in stoning women etc...  Even Job is so impossible that it could not have happened the way it was described in scripture but if it is interpreted figuratively it makes eminent sense and can be beneficial in dealing with bad things happening to good people.  I am more empowered when I understand the scriptures as they apply to me than I am when it is presented as a historical record with little relationship and no applicable value to me. I will never raise anyone from the dead but I can imagine the concept of Christ coming into my life and resurrecting a notion or idea that has died in me. I will never cast daemons out of swine except when I face the issues that are troubling me and I accept the Christian ideals and my daemons are cast out of my misgivings even to the point of leaving me permanently. Personal interpretation can not be sanctioned by the church hierarchy because it would open the flood gates of dissent and conflict. It can be encouraged but not canonized.