I Was Just Curious

From the time I was seven, I was brought up near Disneyland. Actually, that’s not 100% true. The theme park was just an orange grove at the time.

Yup. For some time, when we passed the spot, the remark was made, “That’s where they’re building Disneyland.” Perhaps the one thing that was most visible was the Peter Pan pirate ship.

The transformation that followed was simply unimaginable. The area around Disneyland went from orange trees to hotels, motels, restaurants and parking lots.

The whole Disney empire exploded as well. The studio turned out one huge success after success. The theme park grew in size and attendance.

First time I attended, it was about 3 or 4 dollars a person. If you didn’t go on the rides, that was it. Most, however, bought books which included admission, a few each of A through E tickets. The A tickets, well, most used about half of them. The prize tickets were the E tickets. Invariably, most bought extra E tickets.

For a while it actually caused a frequently used expression, “Well, that was an E ticket,” implying it was a really good experience.

Well. Things have changed and they have changed. Just getting into the park is horribly expensive. I don’t know how people afford it.

Just out of curiosity, I looked it up on line. First, I had a difficult time determining what it costs for 1 day. All the quotes I saw were for three days or for multi-park costs. It seemed to me a classic up salesmanship.

It is as if, if I want just a day in the park, then they have no interest in me. Well, I did find the cost, sortof. It changes, depending on the time of the year.

Well, they may not have much interest in me. The feeling is mutual. Ever since Walt Disney died, the whole empire has been taking a dive, big time. Their movies are failing. Their park attendance is slipping and even ABC is having problems.

It’s sort-of what happens when companies go woke. It’s sort of what happens when they produce children’s movies with adult subjects and inappropriate material in them.

Moreover, they seem to lack originality. They keep redoing old movies with a woke touch. It just really doesn’t work. Most parents won’t put up with it.

It’s showing up on Disney’s bottom line and they just don’t get it. It would seem they believe that if they keep trying, that round peg is going to go though that square hole.

Training and a Good Education

Used to work on computers. One day I went into an office where the woman was having problems. She was properly frustrated and concerned she wasn’t going to get her job done. I listened to her complaint and then fixed the problem in less than five minutes.

Amazed at how quickly I fixed her computer she remarked, “You made that look easy.”

I shrugged and replied, “It is…when you know how.”

Through the years, I considered the situation many times. Maybe I should have taken longer. I should have gotten a couple of books out and did this and that and the other thing. I could have made the problem look very difficult. I could have taken two hours. Likely the woman would have thought more of me and, oddly thought I was better at my job. But that’s not me. I just don’t do things that way.

The fact is that it was, for me easily resolved. It’s what happens when a person is provided some good training and education. A good carpenter with the right tools can generally put together the frame of a 1500 square foot house in a day, two at the most. I know carpenters who have. Okay, he will have to sweat a little but he doesn’t work in an air conditioned environment as I did.

The sewer line went bad at our house, an unpleasant thing at best. The plumber came out and replaced it in about 6 hours. If I’d tried to do it myself, it would have been far less pleasant.

The point that I am trying to make is that training and education are extremely important for us all, no matter what line of work we go into. It makes the difficult easy and the impossible manageable. That’s true from the burger flipper to the doctors and lawyers. It is why society uses the apprentice system. Better to learn from someone who knows than to discover stuff on our own.

But then you knew that already. I didn’t have to tell you. Maybe I did help to emphasize it for you bit. Illustrations are good for that sort of thing.

Now, maybe it’s time we tell our politicians, representatives, and yes, especially, those who run our schools. Maybe they need to concern themselves less with gender and more with reading, writing and arithmetic. Incidentally, maybe it would help to provide an education about our true history and economics. A good sound science foundation wouldn’t hurt either. It’s all pretty important. It makes the difficult easy. On the other hand, that gender stuff, all it will lead to is grief, for everyone.

Incidentally, education is one of those things we should not compromise on, and yet we do every day. With the money our school systems get, our children should be getting the best education in the world and they aren’t.

Controllers

I don’t exactly know why it is but there is always an element of society that likes to be in control. Throughout history, we have had our pharaohs, kings, tzars, emperors, casers and on and on. Invariably, they have two things in common. They say they have the good of the people in mind and they always have huge egos. In some cases, they proclaim themselves to be gods and frequently do all they can to live eternally. (Not with much success)

Well, actually, they have two more things in common. They love to have absolute control over the entirety of their realm, and they want their realm to include the entirety of world.

Hitler and Mussolini had dreams of world dominance. Naturally, had we lost the war, the three empires would eventually have to fight it out to determine if we all would speak German, Italian or Japanese. As controllers, they would have never been willing to share.

It seems as one controller goes down to defeat another stands ready willing and able to take over. Here lately, they’ve been coming at us in bunches. Even before Hitler, Stalin was ready to take his position in history. We finally deal with Hitler and Mao shows up on the world stage.

Then, there are the dozen, or so mini dictators who kept popping up. They showed up in Central and South America. They tried to seize control of Africa. Then, while we drive one dictator out of Cuba, we find out we just installed another. I’m sure the Cuban’s appreciated that. Of course, Castro said it was for the good of Cuban people. I think that was a lie and I suspect there are few Cubans that would agree.

Now, we have Putin, the man that snatched monarchy out of the immature democracy that preceeded him. At least the man is honest. He’s not doing it under the premise of creating a utopian society where all are equal. (You notice, always these utopias always have people who are more equal than others.)

All the folks like me just want to live out our lives in peace. The problem is that every time we turn around someone else comes along and starts a war with us, of course, promising peace and equality.

The Bible tells us that there will be a man who will be successful in taking total control of the world. He will promise peace and prosperity. For a while, there will be peace but not for long. The man will bring war, hunger and a horrible economy. The average family will not be able to purchase a loaf of bread. There will be disease and I would suspect riots. Not many will sit by under these conditions and do nothing.

For seven years the man will be the ultimate controller. At the end of the seven years God will put an end to it. He will put Satan and the man away for a thousand years. During that time, Christ will rule this world. The controllers popping up and taking control will cease. Jesus will see to it.

For sure, you do not want to be around to see those seven years. They will be the worst seven years on this planet.

There is a way to avoid it. Accept Jesus Christ as your savior. Before this all happens, Jesus will take those who are saved out of this world. We who are born into the Kingdom of God will be with Jesus through the whole thing. The suffering will only be for those who refuse to accept Jesus as their savior.

Maybe, possibly sounds like a good idea to accept Jesus as your savior, the earlier the better.

As for those controllers. They will get everything they have coming to them, including the devil. You certainly don’t want to be counted among them.

Controllers in Control of the Churches

It is no new idea of mine that it is time for our churches to rid themselves of control by DC. One might ask, “How is Washington controlling our churches?” By the tax-exempt status. The law says that if the preacher speaks on politics, then they are in danger of losing their tax-exempt status. Therefore, they don’t speak on politics. Therefore, DC controls the subject from the pulpits. It is the same way that Washington controls the schools, the speed limits and who knows how many other things.

But, if we give up our exempt status, then people will stop giving to the church. They will go to other churches. Sounds just exactly like what they want us to say. Hence, I say, DC has control of the churches. Right now, it is in a minor way. However, I suggest it will only get worse, not better.

Moreover, I don’t think God likes the idea of Old Joe controlling what is said from the pulpit. If God directs the preacher to speak on the subject, regardless of the subject, Joe really ought not have any say.

Next, do they call abortion a political issue. Already, it is getting difficult to bring up homosexuality, though the Bible makes it quite clear that it is not political. What happens when Old Man Joe fusses for churches speaking about January 6. The instant a preacher says those imprisoned should be pardoned, bang, there goes the tax status.

After a while, the line between politics and religion will be blurred more and more through time. Better that we lie down the gauntlet now. Tell them, it’s First Amendment territory. They have no business telling us what we preach or when we preach it. It is called freedom of speech. It’s called freedom of religion. It’s not called Remote control by DC by improper taxation.

We might lose some folks from the pews. Maybe it is better.

Then again, those churches that don’t mind receiving instruction from DC, then, by all means, say nothing about politics. Say nothing about abortion. Say nothing homosexuality. Careful about what say about crime and law enforcement. Mostly, don’t say a word about the candidates and what they believe. If we take money, then it’s not legal.

As my aside. Bear in mind, there are churches that have no problems maintaining their tax-exempt status while talking about politics, politicians and even encouraging politicians to speak from their podiums. They teach what the dems teach and they have no difficulty in blatantly disobeying the law. The dems have no difficulty blatantly ignoring the disobedience. And of course, one must be very careful about pointing this out.

Why Object?

A federal judge made a decision against Old Joe and his cohorts. No more can they meet and agree as to what speech to allow or block.

Now, why should they object…that is unless they are using the social media for limiting our free speech.

Now, let’s see. Isn’t it against the first amendment to limit our speech even if it is indirect?

I think it is. I think a federal judge just agreed with me.

Now. Just how is it that we are to be compensated for all the past damage caused by Old Joe and his socialist comrads.

More importantly, how do we keep keep the socialists from finding another way around the first and most important amendment.

Another Word on Responsibility

Just now heard a joke on the radio. It was supposedly Hunter Biden on the phone, who said, “Say, Pops. Have you seen my laptop?”

Of course, it was not Hunter Biden who was speaking, but it was Hunter who lost his laptop, his gun and “forgot” to report income for two years. Considering that’s likely not a tenth of it, I think we can assume that he is the epidemy of irresponsibility. This was a man who, with the help of his Pops, became an officer in the military. Now let me see. Aren’t military officers supposed to be responsible? I certainly would not want him as my commanding officer. I actually don’t think many would. Certainly not in battle.

So. When we need a person to point out when we want an example of irresponsibility, he’d be the first one I’d think of, he and his Pops. And, of course, all the while, the reporters keep turning a blind eye. That’s irresponsibility too.

A False Statement

Certainly, just because a statemen is true on the surface doesn’t mean it’s effectively true. I heard a statement person on the news today say that shootings are up this year over last year. Sorry. I don’t have cable anymore so I couldn’t rewind it to get the specifics. (can’t remember the idiot’s name that said it, but I would like to thank him for providing the example)

The thing is, I believe him. I’d guess shootings and deaths by guns is likely up this year by five to ten percent. What the man failed to mention was that prosecution and convictions of gun crimes are down. Go figure.

It all goes back to the basics, if you don’t punish people for committing crimes, they will continue to commit them. Even more, more people will commit them.

Then, on the other side of the coin, prosecutors more and more are going after those shooting in self-defense.

It’s no wonder gun crime is going up. They have created the gun criminals paradise. They get to shoot at us and we don’t get to shoot back.

It’s what I call the perfect example of using the truth to deceive. Using the truth for deceit is the most effective way of deceiving. If he had lied, we would have known it quickly. So, he lies not. He just withholds the truth. Maybe it would be a good idea to put the criminals in prison. That way gun crime, all crime would decrease.

Just off hand, I wonder if he ever checked to see if maybe all crime has increased. I suspect it has, but it doesn’t suit his purpose to address that. That fact would get in the way of his agenda to remove guns from us all.

As a side inquiry; I wonder just how many of those shootings were committed by illegal aliens that Joe invited over the boarder or by people in the drug or human trade that has increased from the open border policy.

BUILD THE WALL

Not in My Lifetime

Channel ten is the local station for PBS. I do watch it from time to time. They do have two or three good shows. Although here lately, it’s getting rarer. Then too, they like to preach to me about climate change. Not that it matters but I would suspect the folks that run that network generate a lot more carbon dioxide in an hour than I do in a month. I likely use less water and I certainly don’t take up nearly as much space in my little 900 square foot home. I really don’t think they have any right preaching their message at me. They are the ones who need to take their own advice.

Nonetheless, they like to ask me for contributions. That is not going to happen. Certainly not while they try to convince the world of that garbage. Now, here lately, they’ve gotten on that homosexual related binge, the one where they uses up almost all the letters in the alphabet. If I were to give one dime to any outfit that preached that stuff as normal, God would be completely justified in taking me off this planet immediately.

Why should I give anyway. Ignoring the homosexual thing, they don’t have any programming worth it. What they need to do is just simply go commercial. Then, if they were really smart, they would know better than to put stuff like that on TV. Look at what it did to Budweiser. People don’t like seeing things like that. It’s not just me. I’m not the only one complaining. Why do you think they are losing the public funding so fast? People do have objections and they don’t like their money squandered as they do. They ought to figure it out as I’m sure the contributions are dropping. I’m sure their audience is shrinking as well. If it continues, they will just simply disappear, they will simply fade away. It won’t hurt my feelings.

Why should I contribute one dime to any organization that hates God the way they do. I know they hate God because of what they say and because of what they do. If they liked God, even a little, they wouldn’t talk like that and they wouldn’t act like that. They are openly and actively rebelling against the Him.

As for me, I’ll have no part of it. Believe me, if the stations were to be dropped tomorrow, we wouldn’t miss it. Those shows that are good will find their way onto other platforms. If they don’t, they must not be that good.

If they really want my support, they will need to change what they say and what they do. My guess is, that is not going to happen, not in my lifetime.

Differing Points of View

Down through the history of the Republican and the Democrat parties, there have always been differing points of view. However, they both had the good of the country in mind. I don’t like the way President Kennedy did things. I really don’t like the way he managed his personal life, but he fought the communists’ countries fiercely and he always had the good of the nation in mind.

Today things are different. Not only do the parties have differing points of view, but the dems do not have well being of the country in mind. They hate the Constitution and are using its precepts to destroy it. Indeed, it is their desire to destroy the country and meld it into a single world government.

Worse yet, they are willing to ignore any law to accomplish it. They have no problem destroying the home of the brave so that they can install their nation of puppets. And yes, they stand accusing others of lying, while all the time telling their own whoppers. If they are caught in their lies and deceptions, then it’s back to their old ways, deny, deny, deny.

They continually demand compromises from the Republicans. Does anyone remember a dem was willing to give an inch. Invariably, in the end, there is no compromise with them. In the end, they win, and we lose. For if we keep compromising, we relinquish everything including our precious freedom.

Then, there will not be any more differing points of view. They will not be permitted. They won’t be allowed, even in thought. If you say something out of line, it won’t be the government after you. It will be your neighbors. It will be those who live across the street or across town. In the end, it will even be your friends in church, until, of course, there are no more churches.

He Who Counts the Votes

We here in the USA vote using a secret ballot. That is to say, after we vote, no one knows who we voted for. While this is true individually, it is not true in groups. We turn our votes in by precinct. And while no one can tell who I voted for, they can know who the precinct voted for.

It is mostly by necessity. I mean, while we want our votes to be kept private, we want then to be counted. When counting by precincts, we can verify that there are exactly so many people who voted in my precinct and for whom. If they are not accounted for by precinct, it would make it very easy to have unfair elections.

To be sure, it has been said, he who counts the votes wins the election. To prevent this from coming true, every vote is counted at a local level. The totals are counted by total ballots and by totals for each candidate. The total votes counted should agree with the total number of voters. The total votes for each candidate should agree with the total number of votes.

If this method is followed carefully, then fraud ought to be easy to see. I mean, if there are a hundred votes, fifty for each candidate, then there out not be a hundred and five votes in the precinct. On the other hand, there out not be 98 votes.

There are three hitches. First, folks voting outside their precinct. It happens frequently. Although illegal, it generally does not create too much of a problem. The numbers simply aren’t significant. Moreover, as long as the person votes only once in one precinct, the spirit of the law prevails, at least in general part of the election. It can throw off local elections so we ought not do it.

The problem does become significantly worse when many people do it in multiple precincts, which allows them to vote multiple times. Not only illegal by the letter of the law, but very much illegal by the spirit of the law. If something like this happens in mass, it can throw off local, state, and national elections. It is difficult to catch as there are few effective ways to catch it.

It is why we use registration. It is why we should be more careful with our registrations. First, it should be required to register two months in advance of voting. It permits, if they will, cross checking between precincts, counties and states. If someone is registered in two or more places, their vote should not be allowed in any of them until the registration problem is corrected.

The second problem is the simple illegal vote. This is when a person or persons perform the voting for others. This can be people who are no longer living, people who simply have no concept of what is going on, frequently in nursing homes, and people who simply chose not to vote. There is significant evidence that this was happening in 2020 in real numbers.

Again, the answer is registration. More important, we need to clean the registry regularly, probably every ten years. We should look for people who are old and possibly deceased. We should check their residence. If they are not living at the home of record, they should not be permitted to vote. If a person moves, they should still be able to vote, but only if they provide a valid change of address and make sure they are removed from the former registry. This is especially true of people moving into nursing homes.

The third problem is what I call remote voting. This method is full of fraud. The simple way to fight it is to make sure the voter has a real reason to vote absentee. The ballot, before it is sent in should be notarized and the notary needs to know he can go to prison for falsely notarizing, especially in bulk.

Finally, to avoid fraud, all voting for a given state should be in person and on one day. It should start at the same time and end on the same time throughout the state, even if the state is in multiple time zones including absentee votes. Moreover, if I had my way, no results should be reported until all states are done voting. It would keep the results from the eastern states from coloring the results in the west.

Finally, more important, Let’s make sure we don’t follow the above saying. Just because someone counts the votes, he should not be able to alter the outcome. Most important, all those who are taking part in the election, no matter how small, no matter how great, must be required to follow the law. And the law should have teeth to back it up. In at least three cases in the 2020 election, officials did not follow the law and they did not spend a day in prison. Actually, they didn’t even get their hand slapped. At least one proudly announced it.

If we don’t make the officials follow the law, how can we expect people to respect the results.