Friday, July 12, 2013

God will be the final judge

When it seems that our leaders are dishonest and corrupt, when they amass power and wealth, when I feel depressed about the course of our country...I come upon the 73rd Psalm and I am reminded that God is in charge and He is the final judge.

Psalm 73 -- Plea for Relief from Oppressors

A Psalm of Asaph.
Truly God is good to the upright,
    to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
    my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant;
    I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For they have no pain;
    their bodies are sound and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not plagued like other people.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
    violence covers them like a garment.
Their eyes swell out with fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against heaven,
    and their tongues range over the earth.
10 Therefore the people turn and praise them,
    and find no fault in them.
11 And they say, “How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Such are the wicked;
    always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain I have kept my heart clean
    and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all day long I have been plagued,
    and am punished every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will talk on in this way,”
    I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
    it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
    then I perceived their end.
18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
    swept away utterly by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
    on awaking you despise their phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was stupid and ignorant;
    I was like a brute beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with you;
    you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will receive me with honor.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;
    you put an end to those who are false to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my refuge,
    to tell of all your works.

Friday, May 31, 2013

Harvard Education? ...and Other Questions

One of the quotes of the year is
“What difference, at this point, does it make?”

Do you remember that statement, or have you ever even heard it?  Do you recall who said it and the context or circumstances?**

There is currently a culture of obfuscation, lying and cover up in our federal government...now we can add convoluted grammar.  Even though this strange way of composing a sentence is what has attracted my attention, the root cause may be that there is a gang of criminals leading our country.  The evidence is that they talk funny; that may not be the real problem.  What happened to honesty, ethics, responsibility and TRANSPARENCY?

Is this the result of Harvard education? Is it a form of doublespeak?  Is it from spending too much time in Washington?  Has this speaker, testifying before a U.S. House Committee, spent too much time circumnavigating the earth at high altitudes, close to the top of the atmosphere? Is it simple lawyer-eze spin?

=================
**Hint.  It was a lady graduate of Harvard Law who is the wife of a former President and who has since run for President herself and has held some very high government positions.  Her initials are HRC.
The statement was made in testimony before a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing on May 8, 2013.  The hearing was about the Sept. 11, 2012 bombing at the U.S. consulate in Benghzai, Libya., that destroyed the consulate and resulted in the killing (murder) of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
The full report by Tom Kertscher is http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/may/08/context-hillary-clintons-what-difference-does-it-m/ and the C-Span video is http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4329984 .

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

About Gun Violence and School Shooting

There are two parts to this BLOG:
  1. My comments concerning the current gun debate
  2. An excellent blog and links about school shooting.

1) My Comments

The 2nd Amendment of our U,S, Constitution provides each of us the right to keep and bear arms not only to hunt, target practice and protect ourselves against criminals, we also need guns to protect us against an abusive government.  That last purpose is why
  • We do not want restrictions on the type or capacity of guns and firearms
  • We do not want registration requirements that allow the government to know who has guns or a description of those guns;  we do not want the government to be able to confiscate our guns.
  • Most of the new gun laws that are being proposed will restrict law-abiding citizens but not psychotic and mentally unbalanced people and criminals
  • Concealed Carry permits and background checks should be used only to screen out those psychotic and mentally unbalanced people and criminals intent on harming

2) Excellent BLOG, (check out the full version)

"School Shooters – The Huffington Post Doesn’t Want You To Read This"Posted on March 4, 2013 by Peter Brown Hoffmeister

Full Blog:
http://peterbrownhoffmeister.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/on-school-shooters-the-huffington-post-doesnt-want-you-to-read-this/

PB Website:
http://peterbrownhoffmeister.com
 

Selected Quotes from BLOG:
  • What follows is an op-ed article on a piece of the school shooter puzzle. I don’t pretend that this covers everything, but here is a key component from my point of view. And as a current high school teacher and a former troubled teen, I have a strong opinion on the topic.

  • I carried a loaded pistol my junior year in high school. I stuffed it in my belt, ready for use. 
  • The next year, I carried a sawed-off shotgun in my backpack.  I liked guns and I had access to them.  But I also carried a sheath-knife.  I was obsessed with weapons of all kind. For a while, I carried a framing hammer. 
  • Thankfully, I never shot or stabbed or bludgeoned anyone.
  • Have you ever heard of a school shooter who’s hobbies are kayaking, rock climbing, and fly-fishing?
This Might Help: 
Peter Brown Hoffmeister is co-founder of the Integrated Outdoor Program (IOP)
http://peterbrownhoffmeister.wordpress.com/the-iop/

The Integrated Outdoor Program (see AP article) is a combined English and outdoor-pursuits course that was founded on the principle that students need to have a deeper connection to the natural world. Recognizing the truths of Nature Deficit Disorder and Leave No Child Inside, the IOP is a counter-culture program, a program that combats Affluenza, teaches gratitude, survival, and the new dream, and encourages environmental consciousness.


More Help, A Selected BLOG Comment:
pastorparadox on April 5, 2013 at 2:07 pm said

  • A question I have is how many of the kids who committed these violent acts had dinner with their family around the table with the T.V. off? That is a great place to start.