The Great Eternal Lie

This is bright and early after breakfast on this bright and sunny day, but of course I’ve been up for hours.  In the news we have some items.  This is Martin Luther King weekend and people are remembering how we got this far and the progress we’ve made, and also paid homage to the Gospel roots of the Civil Rights movement with appropriate music.  Jerry Brown yesterday announced a state of emergency in the state of California because the entire State is experiencing its worst drought since records have been kept, since the time of the Gold Rush.  In this LA area we have been ravaged by brush fires, and the brush is tinder dry, in a fire season that nowadays runs year round.  In the realm of 3 D printing, they have now taken it to the next level by replicating food items.  Just how close are we getting to the “Next Generation” era anyhow.  We can replicate guns that actually shoot, and that’s one thing the NRA does not want us doing.  Now they are making three dimensional candy.  You have 3 D printer chocolates, and candy canes and candied apples.   This is the weekend of the Screen Actors Guild awards, and the same list of “suspects” is up for more awards.  Will Oprah get snubbed yet again?  And of course it’s conference championship Sunday in football.  I’m going with Denver, because I wouldn’t go for a team that supports felons.  But as to San Francisco verses Seattle, naturally I’ll be routing for the forty-niners, even if they will be playing in an exceedingly hostile environment.

One thing from the rants of Hannity and Limbaugh from yesterday that stuck in my mind is this idea that “The democrats and liberals thrives and depends on the fact that you are weak and helpless and must turn to the government to solve all of your problems.  And you vote for these same people and they continue to let you down”.   But doesn’t Christianity do the same thing with you?   Ian Anderson I believe hit it on the head when he referred to Christianity as “The Great Eternal Lie” and you know how I’ve been comparing President Obama to Jesus these days.  They’re good at making a speech but they’re never there when it counts.  For one thing some people actually most dread the idea of anyone actually Believing what they say or taking it to heart.  Because if you believe it, you will test it to see if it works, and when it fails the test, then the speaker knows they will be accountable for their words.  Ironic, but true.  Many times their speeches are all sparkle and glitter to begin with.  Other times by way of follow up they will actually stop and trample on the little faith you do have.  They may call you names like "You're ignorant of the love of God" or "That's a bunch of bull" or "The trouble with you is that you are theologically ignorant".  Sometimes, and by the way both Jesus Christ and President Obama are guilty of this, they will 'Pronounced the problem as SOLVED just because they announced in some speech the problem was solved.  Rush Limbaugh has commented on this phenominon in his programs many times.  For instance President Obama thinks it is an accomplishment to finally get the unemployment rate back to where it was, 6.7% where it was in October of 2008 the month before he was elected and was telling everybody how unacceptable the unemployment rate was, and when he gets into office he’s going to transform and reinvigorate the economy.  In the words of Dr Phil, ‘How’s that working out for you?”  But guess what?  There were ten percent MORE people who actually HAD a job back then as opposed to now.  There is also ten percent MORE people now permanently (?) unemployed as there was then.  But the republican guy from Indiana on KNX radio this morning says that this jobs deficet is due to things like "The Obama administration isn't letting people drill new oil wells any more, and besides there are just too many pollution and other regulation".   Other than these two false assertions, I didn't really head any idea for new Jobs in the MANY bills the House has passed, but the senate hasn't taken up.  These bills SHOULD be taken up by the Senate.  They deserve a hearing there, so that they can be Exposed for the sham legislation they are.  A lot of my bad “self image” comes from my Dad.  But like the republicans accuse Obama of- - you look for help and are only crippled by any advice you get, because they, as well as the Church tells you that “You are no good and don’t have a prayer of amounting to anything unless you place your life in God’s hands”.   But apparently this is not an easy "trick" to learn, because people like Chuck Smith brag about how the circumstances of their OWN life right now, prove what a great person they are to have mastered "going with the flow of the Spirit".   This is stuff you won’t hear from Neil Savedra.  Many church leaders have been “contaminated” by things related by either my brother or my father.   They are suppose to equip you to “make you into a better Christian” but you know in your soul that “I’ll never be on an equal playing field with those others in the church and I really don’t think they want that to begin with”.   There is a line in The Ten Colmmandments that goes “Anyone who would use you as a footstool would not be wise enough to rule Egypt”.  I’d like to apply that saying to myself, when it comes to how the Church thinks of me.  Many readers may have thought the same thing.  “They aren’t grooming me to be a healthy Christian on an equal status with themselves, but rather as some kind of pawn or prop, like a footstool perhaps, that they can sit back in their easy chair and prop their feet up on.”

I listened to Rush Limbaugh for that hour and for a little after lunch.  Then I listened to Sean Hannity both at noon and also at two.  It was the same litany of charges.  Either the poor people are all envious of the rich and the socialists, Moslems, and Nazis want to take money away from rich people, or in the case of the Nazis, rich Jewish people.  Rush apparently doesn’t know that one of the first things the Nazis did was close down the trade unions.  And the poor Jewish shop owners weren’t the rich “Jewish bankers” because you can bet they had already left the country.   There is the charge that the democrats are holding fast to their left wing “socialist agenda”.  There was talk about how Obama Care is ripping people off and even a low wage Black guy called to say he is highly disillusioned with Obama Care.  A gay woman from Utah called the Sean Hannity program saying she resents the idea of some Judge on his own legalizing gay marriage.  She said something about “This should be a slow process winning the hearts and minds of the average person”.  I was scratching my head over this, till she then said she was a Christian and most of her friends and family were Mormon.  Hannity repeated several times that “Now the government has extended unemployment for ninety-nine weeks” when that hasn’t been true for months or maybe even a year.  Sean said there was a study that one million will lose their jobs if the minimum wage is raised.  But when a caller reminded Sean that tens of millions fewer people will no longer need food stamps if that were to happen - - Sean’s brain froze, and he could no longer continue with the call.  Rush talked to some Sergeant who said that burger flippers in Washington state make fifteen bucks an hour and more than he does as an army Sergeant with training.  When the point was made that when offered the choice between private business or going into the armed services, many young people opt for the military to get training and skills they can later use in private business- - Rush just dismissed this as left wing propaganda or something.  I really didn’t want to have more internet radio on today because I don’t want to get trapped in some left wing echo chamber of my own, but wanted to see what the rest of ordinary people of Los Angeles tuning into their radios were being exposed to today. 

 

I tuned in C-Span and watched the President’s speech on National Security through the ages and bagged a couple of photos.  I missed the end of the speech because I had to go to dinner.  Sometimes it all comes down to a question of motives.  Some “reforms” and I’m speaking generically are merely cosmetic and are “for the cameras” while the underlying substance remains unchanged.  Psychologists love to question everyone’s motives.  When Rush talks about “How jealous everyone is of rich people” he’s kind of like the two siblings, where one is often saying to the other “Mommy likes me best” because ‘I got the biggest piece of pie” or whatever.  When I hear something like this I’ve always thought “Is your own identity so weak you have to resort to this nya-yna type of mentality”.   Today people on the right attempt to play the “it takes one to know one” card.  In the song “Memphis Blues Again” by Dylan there is a line in the song that goes “You see, you’re just like me; I hope you’re satisfied”.  But the trouble is this is a bogus card because in no way does any tea bagger want to compare himself in any way to a normal liberal out there.  So the use of this “it takes one to know one” phraseology- is for some motive other than what you think.   If I were confronting someone comparing what Christie did with what President Obama is alleged to have done in the past I’d say “If I agree with you that President Obama has at times over-stepped his power or been a bad leader, will you then agree that we liberals indeed have a case against Christie?”  This will throw them off guard.  They may decided to volley the ball right at me asking, “So you ADMIT that President Obama is a jerk”.  I will say, “No, absolutely not.  I was being hypothetical.  I was hoping you had the mental capacity to respond to a hypothetical question.  But apparently, you are unable to”.

Well today it’s been a walk down memory lane of 1994 and “It was twenty years ago today” when the Big One struck.  A Masonic lodge in Santa Monica was initially condemned but then they had the funding to have the building retrofitted, and it is standing today.  Then we have the Earthquake Kids.  This was the 1994 Northridge Little League team, that won every game except for the last one.  They are a bunch of macho, good looking men in their early thirties now and still keep in touch.  Only one of them went on to a carrier in professional athletics, in football as a Viking.  In 1997 Mamoth Mountain had “only” 94 inches of snow, and it routinely gets three hundred.  I hadn’t the foggiest notion it was anywhere near that much.  By the way Las Vegas gamers like the Dodgers this year giving them a one out of six chance of taking it all.

The previous three paragraphs were moved from the Eisenhower posting to here because there wasn't a snow ball's chance in Hell these remarks would ever by read in that posting, after a long speech from the former President.  Here the remarks at least have a chance.