Jesus saves! Believing in Him helps, but no, that's not what "saves," IMHO!

My Pastor is Thinking of Moving Our Humble Little (But Well-organized) Chapel Out Onto the Ocean Shores Beach

Unfortunately, organized religion (Photo above)--and some of the baloney I hear off the boob-tube--would have you believe that it's some God-awful set of rules and/or some cockamamie belief system that "saves" us for all eternity.

What hogwash!

Jesus died on the cross for the sins of ALL mankind--and yes, that includes those who have no idea who Jesus was (actually, IS!) or have even ever opened the King James Version (or any other version for that matter) of the Bible.

A close friend and relative just passed on and I honestly don't ever recall any of our conversations including the words, "church," "Jesus," "Bible," or even "God"! Maybe a reference (in passing) to "prayer," but little more.

But he LIVED the Bible and was the epitome of what Jesus taught!

And Joseph Andrew Szabo is in the arms of our Lord right now--or darned close to Him and His love. I'd bet my own salvation on that! Atcha, Jazzbo!

My God is a lot bigger than any single belief system and doesn't have at its (His) heart a tiny calculator counting/measuring our "sins," "indulgences," or "apologies." What part of "died for the sins of all mankind" has slipped beyond the notice of most church-going folks.

But yes, they will be "saved" too.

Why not?

Oh? And as for a picture of "God," I see it every time I look in the eyes of any person--good, bad or otherwise! But you might try this image of God on for size:

Artificially implanted octuplets have a lot in common with Congressional Relief Action Program (CRAP)

What do these (admittedly) beautiful (although ill-conceived) babies born to Nadya Suleman have in common with the 10,000-plus pages (admittedly generous to many ailing corporate executives--and others over the next five years ... shown below) of the Congressional Relief Action Program (CRAP) have in common?


The answer--other than the sheer size of both--doesn't take a rocket scientist to answer ...

We will all be paying for both not-carefully-thought-out actions for several years into the future!

Who was it that modified Saint Bernard's original quote to: "The road to ruin is paved with good intentions"?

Think, P-BO, before you sign the trillion dollar CRAP (Congressional Relief Action Program) into law on Monday or Tuesday!

Up here where I live (and work), it's two strikes and you're OUT!! Goodbye Commerce Department ...

The Department of Commerce has been checkmated!

First Bill Richardson and then Judd Gregg! Don't you get the hint P-BO?

New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg’s nomination as Commerce Secretary--followed a week later by his withdrawing his name from consideration--has drawn headlines and has the Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity types gleefully ripping into P-BO's entire program.

This is in part for the political fallout, but also because Gregg, back in 1995, voted to abolish the very agency he was (for a week) slated to head. The arguments Republicans made back then, in the heady days of the Contract for America, still apply today. The Department of Commerce represents wasteful spending, and it functions primarily as a welfare agency for well-connected corporations.

Teddy Roosevelt created the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903, and 92 years later, when Republicans took control of both chambers of Congress, they pushed to abolish the agency.

The Budget Resolution that passed the Senate that year included total abolition of the Department. Republicans said they aimed to shift some functions and eliminate others.

If President Barack Obama and Gregg dismantled Commerce, they eliminate a source of political corruption, cutting waste, and rolling back corporate welfare. In these times, as the federal-industrial complex is growing out of control, those Republican arguments from 1995 seem well worth revisiting.

I wonder how many billions of dollars might be saved by privatizing Commerce. Just think! and put against the wasteful so-called stimulus package that passed today ... assuming If P-BO actually wakes up before President's Day and vetoes his own foolish 1100-page bill that no one in Congress even read before passing today.

Whatever, the two strikes and you're out concept makes great sense to this old curmudgeon ...

Economic downturn? Recession? Let's call it what it really is ...

And being a person who has been in fear of unemployment for more than a year, it's a painful thought.

When the Labor Department reported yesterday that 598,000 private sector jobs were lost in January--pushing the unemployment rate to 7.6%, up from 7.2% in December it was impossible for me to imagine the pain of that many people getting "the word" (a.k.a. the pink slip) in one month. I know the pain of wondering whether I will lose my home, but wonder about those with families--especially with small children--being suddenly unemployed ... with little hope of work in the near future.

I may not agree with many aspects of the stimulus package (as it is called), but certainly believe that Congress should listen to P-BO's impassioned plea and do something ... soon.

But whatever, it sounds like it's going to get worse before it gets better. If there was one thing I learned while getting my second Master's Degree along Friedmaniac lines, it was that the labor market lags behind economic output, and with the U.S. economy expected to contract in the first half of the year, the unemployment rate could reach God-knows-how-high. 8%? 9? 10? Higher? Even with the best-case scenario of an economic turnaround in the second half of 2009, the labor market wouldn't see an improvement--that is, persons returning to work--until at least mid-2010 ... or later.

It may be too soon to be thinking about Christmas time 2009, but me thinks there'll be some sad families and homes during next year's "holiday" season.

A Solution to the Recession cum Depression!

Barack Obama Swearing in His New Ten Million Person Cabinet

I've heard that all we need in the new stimulus package is (roughly) $1.5 trillion. Well, just think about it--if each cabinet member were required to pay back his or her back taxes of (on the average) $150,000 ... and President Obama were to increase the size of his cabinet to a mere ten million stellar citizens (a.k.a. Democrats), then the Treasury would have the needed $1.5 trillion in a heartbeat.

Do the arithmetic! Hell, they could even cover the as yet undiscovered back taxes of the new US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.