Saturday, November 13, 2010

GREEN! Green! green.

No matter where you look.  No matter what you see.  The fear mongers are everywhere.  Chicken Little is running about screeching, "THE SKY IS FALLING!  THE GLACIERS ARE MELTING!!  GLOBAL WARMING IS DESTROYING US!!"

Uh! Excuse me, but we cannot do that.  We cannot destroy the world.  Let me break it to you gently.

IT IS NOT HAPPENING!!

The Lord did not give us the power to do that.  We can mess things up pretty bad, but we cannot destroy the world with global warming.  

If you will take a moment and draw a few cleansing breaths and read your Bible, you will see that God will make all things new again after the Messiah returns to earth.  When The Christ returns He takes care of it all.

Now, what is our responsibility to the earth (and it is not mother earth, it is GOD's earth)?  He gave us the earth to tend.  That means he gave it to us to take care of and be dominant over the animals.  We have done an appalling job.  It really is the only "job" he gave us and we have failed miserably to do that one thing. 

We have polluted the air and water; destroyed forests; killed off millions of animals and bunches of species; and still we are here.  The temple he gave us for the Holy Spirit to reside in we have polluted our minds; polluted our bodies; given in to excesses of all kinds; and yet we are still here.

We can clean up the air, the water, grow more trees, keep the animals safe from extinction.  We can rid ourselves of mind-polluting intake; rid our bodies of the toxins we ingest; and refuse to participate in the excesses of the world.

Now, what have we done?  We have simply created a clean playground for Satan if we do not become born again.  If we have no God to follow, no reason to do these "good deeds" then there really is no good reason to do them.  If there is no God and if there is no Creator, what difference does global warming make?

I mean, I hear all the alarmists saying that we are destroying the planet, but I do not quite understand who they want to save it for?  Many of those same people believe that humans are a blight upon the planet.  The professor who taught ethics at Princeton believed that humanity should be wiped out.  What or who do they want the planet saved FOR

In the 1950's and early 1960's they pushed conservation and that is what I grew up with.  We had paper drives to recycle paper.  We had pop bottles that you took back to the store and got your deposit back.  The old wringer washers conserved water because you washed your 2 or 3 loads of clothes in the same water.  The rinse water was only changed if it got too soapy.  School cafeterias could give the food that was left over from the trays to a local farmer for pig food.   We reused the paper bags that we got from shopping because we lined our kitchen trash cans with them.  Religion was also a big deal in almost every home, school and business.

In the country people cleaned their fence rows and their yards out to the road.  Not so much now because the city, county or state has to mow it and clean it because it belongs to the state, city or county.

The government has tried to take over the spot that belongs to God and tried to push the Churches out of the act of giving to the poor and caring for the aged and widowed and the orphans.  The government has made many inroads but even they cannot take over completely.  Just ask the USSR.  The USSR no longer exists but God still does and it appears that any country that tries to eradicate God has only succeeded in promoting the growth of Christian congregations. 

Have you noticed that the politicians and green-sayers who push it the most are the ones who own stock in those companies and get something from the organizations that promote greeness?  Check them out for yourself.  Better yet check out the One who actually Created the world and man in His image.  That is where your time would be better spent.

READ the BIBLE?

Ever Say You Will and Wish You Hadn't?

Of course.  We all do.  And it is not just the, "Sure, I'll take the carpool tomorrow." 

Mine now is more like, "click yes to receive..."  I clicked on the life thing and put in my mother's name.  Why?  I do not know.  My mother died in 2001.  I guess I was just curious to see how many more women had her name.  Now, I am getting all these idiotic emails saying they have located her.  She does not even have a suitable grave.  My step-father had her cremated (which I was not in agreement with but it was his wife) and he compounded my irritation by waiting almost 3 years to scatter her ashes in the Arizona desert.  While he was waiting for this momentous event he was living with some woman and carrying my mothers ashes in a box in the trunk of his car.  So, I really do regret doing that if only because it brings up the fact that she was so unceremoniously disposed of by that Cretan.

Work was one of those places that I was just learning how to say, "No, I really am swamped and won't be able to do that project." before they unceremoniously disposed of me.  I was working 65 +/- hours per week when I started saying that.  It was really difficult for me to understand why these men who had the same access to files that I did and left after 40 or 50 hours did not have time to do their own research.  Go figure.

Then there is Church where you feel guilty if you do not dive in over your head and help everyone that asks.  You can get just as burned out doing that as anything else.  If you are dead tired and irritable, you are no earthly good for heavenly things.

It took awhile for me to realize that the Devil wanted me worn to a frazzle and just as irritable as a rattle snake with 25 children under 3 years old.  It truly is difficult to think upon the things of The Lord when you are in that state of mind.

Learning to say no can be a liberating experience (in more ways than one) as well as a frightening one.  There will be those souls that become highly irritated when you do say, "No."

Friday, November 12, 2010

Whatever Happened to Wash Day?

Momma always had a schedule.  Because she worked she did everything connected with the house on Saturday.

Saturday was wash day.  We lived in an apartment complex.  In the basement there was room for you to store your washer which would be a wringer washer.  There were six deep sinks where you could soak clothes in bleach or starch and rinse water.  The rest of the basement was devoted to clotheslines.  At that time, this setup was pretty upscale as far as apartment living went.

Saturday, Mom got up early and started washing clothes. She usually had 2 or 3 loads and it took all morning.  The whites were always bleached so that tub was filled.  The colored clothes had to be sorted so the really dark colors would not fade onto the others.  There was a tub for hand washable items.  As the clothes were added to the washer, Mom would start each cycle manually.  The washer held the soapy water and agitated the clothes.  When the clothes were sufficiently washed, she removed them from the washer by running them through the wringer mechanism and let them fall into the tub filled with rinse water.  When they were sufficiently rinsed, the wringer was turned so she could run the rinsed clothes through it and put them in the basket.  They went from the basket to the clotheslines if they were not starched.

It was a labor intensive task and took up most of the morning.  The phrase, "You will wear that tomorrow." was not uncommon.  You simply did not waste clean clothes.  You did not change clothes several times a day either.

While she was washing clothes, the kids were dusting the furniture, cleaning their rooms and, in general, doing something or being quiet.  After hanging up the clothes, Mom would do the heavy cleaning like mopping the floors, cleaning the bathroom, washing windows and any number of things she thought needed doing.  She ironed Saturday night all the clothes that were washed on Saturday morning.

This was done every week.  Every spring and every fall, the clothes were changed.  In the spring, winter clothes were put away in storage with mothballs and summer clothes were brought out.  In the fall it was reversed.  She was able to fit a family of four's seasonal clothing into a small trunk and it was stored in the basement.  It was locked and no one bothered it.  

So what happened to me?  I was right there with her and saw how well her schedule worked.  A schedule is something that escapes me when it comes to cleaning.  But it does work so much better when I do.  My attempt at scheduling cleaning time lasts about 2 weeks and six months later, I remember I forgot.

But, hey!  Life goes on anyway!

Considering a change in the Blog

It has occurred to me that my blog may be much too diverse in the topics.  Starting another 1 or 2 maybe even a 3rd blog to keep the flow going with all the different topics may be the answer. 

I would like to have you, the readers, make suggestions as to what you think would be a good division.

I am considering these:

Humor is about things that I find ironically humorous or just plain funny.

Life in the Psycho Lane primarily deals with my, shall we say, formative years.  It is a stark verbalization of growing up without becoming a victim and blaming failure on events and people who have long since died or forgotten that they ever knew me.

Life to the Fullest is my own personal Christian observations.  I hope that they cause you to think.  I truly believe in the Bible as the inerrant Word of God Himself.

Observations can include anything.  They are just my own personal observations of life in its incongruities.

Works In Progress is just a way to designate those items that I have published but am still working on.  Sometimes it is for research.  Sometimes it is just finding the right way to say something funny or disturbing.

These are already Labels on my Blog.  Right at the moment it is unclear as to how I should proceed.

Your input would be appreciated.  If you have ideas or comments that you prefer not be published, I will keep your comments private but you do have to tell me.  All comments are moderated before they are published.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

The First 42

My life for the first 42 years was spent in search of that piece of me that was missing.  It was missing when I was born and nothing that I did or said could fill that void.

There were times that I could feel something or someone try to make contact with me.  There were many times that I tried card readers, fortune tellers and horoscopes to find what was missing, but those things gave me nothing but more questions.

As a child, I lay in the grass on the hill that overlooked the playground.  As the other children played, I lay there with my eyes closed asking for my real parents to come back for me.  I was smart enough at seven to know that if I told anyone what I thought that the consequences would not be good.

I believed with all my heart that someone in a spaceship had landed on earth and that was my family.  I had wandered away and they had to leave without me.  They would come back from time to time searching for me but were unable to find me.  So, I lay in the grass hoping that they would see me and finally take me home.

Call it what you like.  A child's fantasy; an escape mechanism used by someone in order to deal with feeling unloved or any number of psycho-babble garbage that means less than the opinions offered by "Counselor Troi" in "Star Trek - The Next Generation".  At the age of forty-two, I found out the true meaning of that experience; that dream; that desire.

What do you do when you want something to eat but really have no idea what?  If you are like me, you will eat something, anything, to see if it satisfies that empty spot.  If sweets don't work, maybe a pickle will.  If a hamburger doesn't work, maybe the fries or chicken fingers will.  If you get the idea that I stuffed my face until I was full, you are correct.  After ingesting all that mess, I was overfull and still not satisfied.

Like that empty spot in my stomach, I had a spiritual empty spot.  Like the food, I tried to fill that hole with all sorts of things.  Because it was first brought to my attention in Church at the age of six, I tried to find that item in Church from the people that went to Church.  They all, in some way or other, patted me on the head and told me not to worry about such things.  They, to a person, erroneously thought that I did not need to know.

I asked parents, Sunday School teachers, teachers and anyone who would talk to me.  They all told me the same thing.  Filling that void was no big deal.

I lived for years in a moral slime pit because I had no one willing to tell me that what I was doing was not only hurting me but was absolutely wrong.  I did what I wanted, who I wanted, when I wanted because in the 1960's the motto was, "If it feels good, do it."

It was 1968 and I was in Knoxville, Tennessee walking to a store.  I was wearing a micro-mini dress and high heels.

When I walked past a preacher who was preaching on the street, he called out, "Whore!  Go home and dress decently!  You are the Devil's tool!"

I had been called that before.  I stopped, turned toward him, blew him a kiss, smiled and walked away a little taller and slower.  I was not going to let him see me angry and humiliated.  It was the fact that he had looked.  He had noticed.  He had called me out on my appearance when I knew what was in his heart.  He lashed out at me because he hated what he thought at that moment.  I was a cocktail waitress and I knew what to do to get noticed.  The very nerve of that old coot!

I don't really know how he should have handled that, but I know it should not have been handled the way he did.  So much for Christian love and bringing sinners to Christ.  I knew that I needed something, but I did not need his sorry attitude.

It was things like that, those occurrences that push you one way or the other, that served to keep me away from Christianity.  I studied other religions.  Listened to the witnesses and visitors at the door.  I read many things.  I even had items from the dark side.  Nothing kept my interest for more than a few weeks.  Even then the interest was half-hearted.

Some tried to get me to believe that there was no Hell.  Man, I knew better than that.  I had been involved with a seance when God Himself allowed me to smell the pit of Hell and revealed a Demon to me.  You need to be thankful that, except on rare occasions, we cannot see the spiritual battle that goes on around us.  You would lose your mind.

By the time I was 42, I had been married more than once, had a child and was still just as lost and confused as I ever was.  I tried changing my life and had done quite well with that, but it wasn't enough.  I turned over so many new leaves I could have had a forest full of leaves.

I started reading the Bible.  There are those of you out there that think of Christianity as a crutch for weak-minded people.  I look at it as something, Someone to lean on when you need a Friend, a Friend who has died for you.  How many of your friends would actually die for you?

I started reading at page 1 and decided that I was going to find out what was so special about that book.  People had died for what was in that BOOK.  Our country had been founded because of what was in that BOOK.  There had to be something in there that caused all that furor.  What made people who do not believe in anything in that BOOK so mad that they want no one else to read it?  There had to be something and I was determined to find it.

Ever read something that baffled and befuddled you but you just could not put it down?  There I was, in the middle of the Book of Job.  I was there without a clue.  I had made it through Leviticus and Deuteronomy and was able to keep going, but Job had me stymied.  It's not like I had not read the Bible before.  I read it from cover to cover about 3 times before I was 15.  My Aunt had given me a Bible and I found it intriguing even at that age.

I closed the Bible and put it down.  I was determined to go through it and I kept trying to pick it up and return to Job, but every time I picked it up, I felt compelled to go to the New Testament.  I finally gave in to the urge to start with the Gospel Matthew.  It was much easier reading.  It was going much faster, but I felt like I was no closer to an answer than when I started reading.

I read through the Gospels of Mark and Luke and was reading the Gospel of John when something began to change.  I began to understand.  After reading the third chapter of John I understood completely.

I saw my sins nailed to the Cross and I knew what He had done for me.  You cannot base your salvation upon a feeling but you have a lot of feelings when it becomes real.  I felt free for the first time in my life.  I felt the arms of God wrapped around me.  I felt truly and wonderfully free and alive.  I felt regret.  It was regret that I had wasted 42 years fooling around looking for the answer that was right here all along.

HE had called me often and I had ignored HIM.  He was patient.  He kept me from harm on numerous occasions that I was aware of.  There is no telling how often HE may have delayed me to keep me from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Suddenly, I had become a child of God.  I knew who I belonged to and it was not space aliens.  The Father that I had searched for I had finally reached out and took HIS hand.  I was home.

His work was finished on the Cross.  My cry to Him to know, to be shown was answered.  I am HIS and that space that needed filling was a God-shaped space that was now filled.

All those little sayings are true.  God loves you.  He never gives you more than you can handle.  He will give you peace that passes all understanding.  He is the Creator.  He knows you better than you know yourself.

May THE LORD bless you and keep you.

Erika - Veteran

My sister has this as her facebook status:
I'm a Veteran. A Veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including, their life. Regardless of personal political views, that is an honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact. ...Copy and paste this as your status if you are a veteran. *USAF 20 years of service and counting!

 

Veterans Day

In the United States of America today, November 11, is Veterans Day. 

Please honor our veterans both living and dead for their service to our country.  They deserve that and so much more.

May God have mercy on us.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

A Lesson in Humility

There is much to be learned by visiting another person's blog.  While on their blog, you can witness what is truly important to them.

You can see if they continually write about oneself and one's experiences or do they write about someone else?  Do they continually speak of their Saviour?  There is nothing, absolutely nothing, more wonderful than to see someone who is continually singing the praises of his Lord.  To discuss the Scriptures with such heartfelt emotion was refreshing. 

I remember those days.  Those days, those years when HE was the most important Person in my life.  So, what happened?

I forgot my first Love.  I gave myself over to a job.  I lost myself in trying to impress people who did not care one whit about me.  I have said it before and will say it again.

DO NOT FORGET YOUR LORD AND SAVIOUR!  HE will never forget you if you are HIS.  HE will never be far from you.  I forgot.  Not completely, but I turned away.

I did not go back to drinking and smoking and such as that.  What I did was far worse.  I ignored HIM.  I turned from HIM and devoted time to something much, MUCH less important.

Do NOT forget that which is important in your life.

The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription

The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription
Note: The following text is a transcription of the Constitution in its original form.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article. I.
Section. 1.
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Section. 2.
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
Section. 3.
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.
No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.
Section. 4.
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.
Section. 5.
Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.
Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.
Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.
Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
Section. 6.
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.
Section. 7.
All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.
Section. 8.
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Section. 9.
The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another; nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.
No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
Section. 10.
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Article. II.
Section. 1.
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.
The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Section. 2.
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.
Section. 3.
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
Section. 4.
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Article III.
Section. 1.
The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.
Section. 2.
The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;--to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;--to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;--to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;--to Controversies between two or more States;-- between a State and Citizens of another State,--between Citizens of different States,--between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.
Section. 3.
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

Article. IV.
Section. 1.
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.
Section. 2.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.
No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
Section. 3.
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Section. 4.
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.

Article. V.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

Article. VI.
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Article. VII.
The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.
The Word, "the," being interlined between the seventh and eighth Lines of the first Page, the Word "Thirty" being partly written on an Erazure in the fifteenth Line of the first Page, The Words "is tried" being interlined between the thirty second and thirty third Lines of the first Page and the Word "the" being interlined between the forty third and forty fourth Lines of the second Page.
Attest William Jackson Secretary
done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,
G°. Washington
Presidt and deputy from Virginia
Delaware
Geo: Read
Gunning Bedford jun
John Dickinson
Richard Bassett
Jaco: Broom
Maryland
James McHenry
Dan of St Thos. Jenifer
Danl. Carroll
Virginia
John Blair
James Madison Jr.
North Carolina
Wm. Blount
Richd. Dobbs Spaight
Hu Williamson
South Carolina
J. Rutledge
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Pinckney
Pierce Butler
Georgia
William Few
Abr Baldwin
New Hampshire
John Langdon
Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts
Nathaniel Gorham
Rufus King
Connecticut
Wm. Saml. Johnson
Roger Sherman
New York
Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey
Wil: Livingston
David Brearley
Wm. Paterson
Jona: Dayton
Pennsylvania
B Franklin
Thomas Mifflin
Robt. Morris
Geo. Clymer
Thos. FitzSimons
Jared Ingersoll
James Wilson
Gouv Morris

Democracy in America

"Moreover, almost all the sects of the United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity, and Christian morality is everywhere the same. In the United States the sovereign authority is religious, and consequently hypocrisy must be common; but there is no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater proof of its utility, and of its conformity to human nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.

The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other; and with them this conviction does not spring from that barren traditionary faith which seems to vegetate in the soul rather than to live.

There are certain populations in Europe whose unbelief is only equaled by their ignorance and their debasement, while in America one of the freest and most enlightened nations in the world fulfills all the outward duties of religion with fervor.

Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more did I perceive the great political consequences resulting from this state of things, to which I was unaccustomed. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country."
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, (New York: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1851), pp. 331, 332, 335, 336-7, 337, respectively.

If he were to come to America today, would his comments be the same?  He published his book, Democracy in America in 1835.

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776

Democracy or Republic

A pure democracy is simply put mob rule.  Whatever the majority wants to do is what gets done.  Until another vote is taken and they run in the opposite direction.  There can often be no rhyme nor reason for the changes.  The only thing that matters is the will of the mob.

A Republic, which is what the United States is supposed to be, is a group of officials elected by the people who run the government.  The only time the will of the people matters is when it is time to vote the statesman in.  Ours is, according to James Madison our republic is a "representative democracy" as opposed to a "direct democracy" (Federalist Paper Number 10).

When it was founded, it was decided that a simple majority was not a proper way to run a country.  Rules governing elected officials were simple and important.  The division of government into 3 parts that were separated to decrease the possibility of a monarch or dictatorship or even the rule of a select few would be close to impossible.

A simple majority rule was also not allowed.  This was done in order to govern and not allow the possibility of a select few people dictate what was to be done. At the time of the inception of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the country was mainly agricultural with segments of the populace being in the cities.  Often it was the rich, the aristocrats, that were in the cities.  It was decided that the Representatives would be based upon the population of the individual states and the states would be allowed 2 senators.  This would give a good overall representation of the will of the people in general without becoming overwhelmed by certain groups.  They would govern the country not inflict the will of the few upon the country as is done now.

It is a pity that Government, United States Government in particular, is not of more interest and is not promoted well throughout the American public school system. 

It is no wonder that many of today's youth is discouraged with the way the "system" now works.  For one thing, it was never meant to be the welfare state that it has become.  Our government was to provide for the common defense, not care for the citizens from cradle to grave.

As the citizens found out they could "vote" themselves "stuff" it put the country farther and farther in debt and has continued to keep Senators and Representatives in power simply to keep us in the way that we were becoming accustomed.  Prior to Social Security people saved for their old age.  As Social Security became more popular and it was extended to others, fewer people saved for their old age.  Even the beginning of Social Security was not to provide anything more than subsistence living. 

Before the government took over caring for the aged, they were cared for at home, by those in the Church and by both indigent old age homes and paid facilities.  No, that system did not care for everyone just as today's government run system does not cover everyone's needs.  Gradually the government has taken over responsibilities that the Churches and individuals had done.  It is understandable that people think the government is supposed to provide for everyone.  While it may be understandable, it is a travesty that politicians have done everything in their power to perpetuate.

Now, the people, through the pressures of advertising with too much knowledge and too little wisdom, have decided that the government owes them more.  The Government now owes us jobs and products and education and conveniences and protection from big business and protection from bankruptcy and protection from credit card companies and protection from foreclosure and protection from products and protection from diseases and protection from ourselves and on and on ad infinitum.

Where do WE think this horrendous government is going to get the money?  It is going to raise taxes!  DUH!  It will take anything up to 100% and give back a fraction in services and protection.  We will neither be well kept nor protected for we have become a greedy self-centered mob.

While this country started as a Republic or representative democracy, we are becoming a whining mob that wants more and more to be equal.  We were already equal.  We are all bound for death once in our lives.  You cannot get more equality than that.  We have a convoluted idea that sameness equals equality but it does not.

This is how we are equal.  I take no offense that it says all men.  I understand the meaning and accept that it means women as well.  This is just a portion of it.

The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Lessons From a Former Employer

I think the first thing that I learned is that when an employer tells you that you are great and they don't know what they would do without you, it means they are considering finding out.

Another thing that I learned is that when they ask you if you can handle the job (the one you've been doing for 15 years), it is a sure sign that they have someone else in mind.

Probably, one of the biggest lessons I learned is the fact that if they think you have a weak spot, they will try to gnaw away at it until either you break or they give up and just fire you.

I learned a lot of valuable lessons about trying to pass off bad products, lying to employees, how to switch money between companies to make the lending institutions believe you have more cash on hand than you do and many other valuable lessons.  They also taught me how to hide their personal purchases so it would look like a company expense.   What I learned from one or two of my former employers could fill volumes about what not to do in order to stay out of jail.

Then there is the two-faced view of, "Do as I say, not as I do."  To see the disparity of treatment among employees all the while them telling how much they are doing for all the employees was nauseating.  

The bans on gossip in the office and the shock of them knowing that what they tell one person in the office was spread, not by the one who was reprimanded, but by the one who was constantly paid to run their mouth.  Of course that person was trustworthy while the other was banished to the land of, I-can't-share-anything-with-you-any-more.  The funny part was that there would not have been a problem if upper management hadn't spread the gossip in the first place.  And that is all that it was.  Perhaps it was just another malicious way to try to push someone out.  False accusations and open distrust can do that fairly rapidly.

The office dress code that was formulated after weeks of discussion and thought was tossed aside because they only made it effective to rid themselves of someone's funky hairstyle.

I learned that office rules and regulations were only applicable to certain people.  Once they were gone, they rules and regulations were set aside.

I learned that age, wisdom and experience has no place in their office.  I learned if they saw that you were in some way damaged you would soon become history.  

I learned that they are liars and cheats and if their word is not any better to their customers than it was to me, their customers are in for a bad product and delayed shipping.

I learned that they have no clue about fairness and trust.  Anyone who continually asks if the employees are taking advantage of their time sheets, has a trust issue and will likely falsify their own documents.  Add cameras everywhere and see if you don't have a problem with morale.  If you don't care about employee morale, then it doesn't matter, does it?

I learned that their vows to their spouses mean nothing.  They are quite willing to engage in "indiscretions" with impunity.  Just don't let them find out that their employees might be doing the same thing.  Then they get "talked to" and it is pointed out how disappointed they are in them.

I learned that if you contribute sizable amounts to various churches and claim publicly to help those less fortunate, that the business community will sing your praises in spite of the fact that you are paving the way to Hell for your family.

I also learned that their efforts to rid themselves of me has been a rocky road and it will only get worse.

I learned that evil has many faces and often uses the disguise of someone who is generous to a fault.  You soon find out that their generosity is calculated to have the most grandiose effect.

I learned to keep copies of everything in triplicate for just one reason.   I did not trust them.  I saw what they did to other people.  I learned that their offers to "help me any way they could" was just one of their lies.

They own the land, the business, the church, the community, and anything else their heart desires, but they cannot own your soul and that just ticks them off.

According to a Reliable Source...

A simple question.

A college education is necessary because:
1. A college education nets you more money.
2. A Bachelors degree nets you more money than just college courses.
3. A Masters degree nets you more money than a Bachelors degree.
4. A Doctorate nets you more money than a Masters degree.
5. All of the above are true.
6. All of the above are false.

Okay, it is a trick question.  It is all true and it is all false.


Education nets you more money ONLY if you can find a job in that field.  Don't forget that the jobs that require no advanced education are often available while a teaching degree in Medieval History may not be needed until that position opens up due to the retirement or death of the lone professor teaching that subject.  A ditch digger using a shovel will probably be paid minimum wage whether he has a high school diploma or a PhD in philosophy. 

Groceries cost more today than they did a year ago and the cost will continue to rise.
True or False?

Of course it is true.  You do not have to be anal retentive and keep every receipt like I do to know that prices are escalating.  Your check does not go as far as it used to.  So, either you are buying more things that you don't need (a good possibility) or what you have been buying regularly is going up in cost or the manufacturers are giving you less contents in your cereal.  Sneaky.  It's only been in the news for 2 or 3 weeks.

A hamburger increases your brain power.
True or False?

No comment.  Take a gander at nation-wide test scores;  the number of misspelled words in your newspaper;  the number of misspelled words on commercials; or look at the idiotic things we just have to have.  Okay, I made a comment.  Too many hamburgers.

There is nothing new under the sun.
True or False?

When you look at all the new developments of today and we peek into the history that brought us here, I have to wonder if there is anything truly new out there.  There have been discoveries of ancient batteries and surgical tools. And, just look at all the runways we have seen from the air that lead nowhere we know of and were not built in our history. 

Since I believe that the earth was built by God to be a mature earth and that there was a world-wide flood, I am free to wonder if that civilization was not more advanced than we are now. 

Just to throw in another thought.  The dinosaurs became extinct because of the flood (Noah's flood, that is).  Well, that is just as good a theory as all those others that also have no basis in fact.  The evolutionists have their billions and billions of years and I just have the Word of God.  I believe that I have the reliable source.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Reality Sucks - Get Over It

I was once told to rewrite a memo because I was told it was too harsh.  Of course, I was stunned.  It was simply matter-of-fact and it just listed what the company was gong to do under certain circumstances.

We all like those reality shows, but we do not like reality.  There are two kinds of people - realists and all the rest.

A realist knows that there are bad hair days and is not afraid to say it does not look that good, but it looked great yesterday and maybe tomorrow will be better, maybe not.

The realist knows that sometimes days just suck and people are sometimes cranky and you do not need to smile all the time. 

All of the rest are composed of butt-heads, the unbearably chipper (I swear they do not have clue), lunatics and those that simply really do not give two hoots.

The butt-heads are either in charge of something or want to be someone in charge and they only succeed at showing people how little they know about everything.  If you do have the misfortune to work for one, you will notice their self-absorbed attitude and that they truly believe that whatever they say should be enshrined in a hermetically sealed container for posterity.  They have a great deal of difficulty around those that are truly more intelligent and that means they have problems around a majority of people.  They believe that all people should fit into the same mold and there is little room for self expression from anyone but themselves.  If they were alone on the island, they would be the first to be voted off.

The unbearably chipper are really not that happy.  They put on a happy face because they know the butt-head expects it.  They try to get everyone else to do the same and become embarrassed because they are unable to enforce the chipper code (smile and the whole world smiles with you). Their insecurity shines through their inability to stand for anything.  If they were alone on the island they would last until about 1/2 way because they know how to suck up to the one in charge.

Did you notice that I said these people were alone on the island?  Who wants to be trapped on an island with these people?

The lunatics are those who do an exceptional job and are crazy enough that no one is sure that they should vote against them.  They will generally last until the last couple of rounds.  People like lunatics if only for the humor.  They are fun to watch and if management plays them right, they might just self-destruct.

Those that do not give a hoot, really do not care if they last or not and usually end up winning.  If they don't win, it doesn't matter because they didn't care in the first place.

Work would have been a much better place to be if we could have voted some of them off the island.

Fear Mongering or Truth?

In 1995 we were being subjected to fear-mongering of all shapes and sizes.  On December 31, 1999, the world as we know it would come to an end.  And MRE's were sold by the ton to thousands of people in the United States.  Some even stocked up on ammunition and weapons.  Generators were sold and sold and sold.

We bought a generator.  Where we live it came in handy during the little rainstorm called Katrina.  Every now and then the power goes off and it comes in handy again.  We could afford the generator when we bought it.  It was not a matter of fear that prompted us to purchase it.  It was a matter-of-fact decision.  We did not stock up on MRE's or massive amounts of canned goods.   Our propane powered generator was a wise choice and has served us well.

Our economy is in bad shape.  You do not have to be a rocket scientist or a whiz-bang economist to see that.  If you have studied any history at all, you will know that economic collapse, recessions and depressions have all happened before.  It is cyclic and it will happen again.  It will happen sooner rather than later.

You do not need a PhD in order to realize that the United States is teetering on the brink.  Talk to your friends.  Ask them how high their grocery bill has gotten.  Ask them if they are working and if not, what are their prospects.

I heard last month that the economy is getting better and the turn-around started in July 2009.  Really?  I have been to Knoxville, Tennessee looking for work and it is not there.  The ads for employment opportunities that used to take up pages now are listed in columns on one page.  Washington, DC is better, but look at the jobs that are listed.

So what is a wise choice now?  Do we simply sit on our behinds and keep watching TV or do we get off our butts and do an honest and logical assessment of our situation and do something about it?

About 8 years ago, we started in earnest to pay off all debt and put money in savings.  Thus far, we are less in debt than 98% of those in the United States.   We have no mortgage and no car payments.  Our home is a modest size and we buy our vehicles used at a price we can pay cash for.  If you get a good vehicle that needs a little work it can last you for years.  Just get a good mechanic to do the work.

How do you learn to live on a reduced income?  Just start living on a reduced income.  If you both work, live on one income and put the rest in savings or pay off debt with it.  Don't use it to live on.  If you can't afford to live on one salary, cut your costs.  Do without the satellite and the cable and dinner out.  Repair your clothes.  Learn to sew and make your own.

Is it hard?  Of course it is hard.  Anything worth doing is going to be difficult when you first start.  Remember first grade?

It never hurts to have a little of anything set aside.  Canned food, flour, sugar, a little cash, a good cookbook, yard birds (only in the country unless you can pass them off as a pet in the city), and medication if you have to have it daily are all good things to have stored away for a rainy day.  It will rain.  The drizzles aren't so bad but the gulley-washers can break you.

If tough times come, be prepared to lose weight.  Be prepared to guard your temper.  Be prepared to guard your family and to move if you have to.  Always remember that the more money that you make and spend the harder it will be to survive on very little.  Buy things that matter and will last.  Learn some physical skills like carpentry and electrical and mechanical.  If your job keeps you in the office, learn to do something that gets you good and dirty.  It will come in handy.

Listen to what "they" say and decide for yourself what you need to do.  It is always better to err on the side of caution.