Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sometimes, I Wish the Bible Spoke More Plainly

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Since my teens, I knew that God spoke against astrology. I’m not going to argue the point. God makes it very clear in a number places in the Bible. As I read, I saw them. I cannot call them out right now other than Daniel condemned the King of Babylon for following stargazers. Naturally, that is in Daniel.

I was well into adulthood when I saw something that floored me. Truly, I can only speculate. While archeologist were digging around the Temple, they discovered a copy of what appeared to be the astrological signs, arranged in a circle, right out in the middle of one of the porches.

I can’t explain that and I will not try. However, God is very clear. We are to go to Him and his Word for wisdom and not the stars. It does appear to be a very stark contradiction. Of course, in a year or two, I’ll know. For now, however, I’m going to have to plead ignorance.

Maybe, possibly, I can bring a small amount of light if I am allowed a wild guess. Bear in mind, it is just a guess. First, in Genesis, God tells us that He gave us the constellations as guide to tell when to plant and when to harvest; a sign for the seasons. I suspect that it is something that has followed mankind through history. It would also make it easy to turn the constellations into gods or messages from gods. How easy it is to start worshiping the created instead of the creator.

Nonetheless, God did provide them for guidance. They were gifts from God, not gods.

I found another interesting fact. Each of the twelve tribes of Israel had it’s its own flag, standard which God told them to carry before the tribe whenever they moved from one place to another. I think you will find that in Exodus, though I am not sure.

Try as I might, I could not find what was on each of the flags. It has caused me a little curiosity. It is one of those questions I will have for God, though I really wished he’d tell me sooner.

Now, this is where I go out on a limb, maybe the proverbial plank. I hope God will forgive me for a little conjecture, but it does fit. The flags might have each had a constellation on it. It makes sense, but, as I said, it is a guess. If each constellation represented one of the tribes, twelve in all, it would not at all be remarkable to find the constellations to be on the porch. It would in no way imply that they were used for worship or guidance.

If wrong, then you will have to wait like me. That is, unless those archeologists find something else that explains it, like maybe those banners.

FBI Security For Voting

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Several times lately I heard that the FBI would be providing security for voters and poling places. It sounds like a good idea. I like it. I’m glad they are doing it, provided they do it properly and even handedly.

My question is, where was the FBI security during the election of 2008 when Black Panthers stood at poling places carrying night sticks and intimidated white people?

In case you don’t believe it, I can post photos.

First, Catch the Ball

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Okay. I wasn’t the best in the little league, though I thought I was better than the coach thought I was. One thing I will say, I never missed a ball during a game while I played first base. It was because of something my brother taught me. First, catch the ball.

That is to say, no matter what you plan to do after you catch it, make sure to catch it. It seems so obvious but I have seen even the pros start to throw someone out at first before he caught the ball. That is embarrassing. Even more, it can cost the game. Not only can’t you not make the play without the ball, but if that ball goes on out into the field, it can cost runs. Worse, it allows that other batter to come to the plate and hit the little pill over the fence.

To be sure, it takes determination. The instant that hard hit grounder starts in your direction, you must make the determination to catch, or at least stop that ball. No matter what else you did before or will do after, that is the number one concern.

Strange as it might seem, I saw first one football player, then the other a short time later drop an almost perfect pass. They had both their hands on the ball and it was very catchable. In both cases, they started making their plans for what they were going to do after getting the ball… then they dropped the ball.

Excuse me, but aren’t these guys getting at least 6 figures a year. Perhaps I have it wrong, but I would think the coach would really want a receiver who would first catch the ball. I mean I’m not one of those high paid coaches, but as I have said before, I am available. I mean, I do understand the basics, like catching the ball.

It is really nice to be the fastest on the field. However, it won’t do you a bit of good if you can’t put your hands around that ball and secure it firmly. Then you can run. Then you can go through all those elusive moves. But first catch it. As I said, I learned that in Little League. My guess is that most of the football players learned the importance of holding onto the ball in high school. I am sure it has been stressed repeatedly in college.

It is as that architectural engineer wrote, “The most important thing, is to keep the most important thing, the most important thing.”

It is important in baseball. It is important in football. Actually, it is the most important thing in just almost everything. This means, it is really difficult to keep a nation a representative republic when you can’t even keep the elections honest. I mean, it is sort of the most important thing.

The Guarantee of Weakness

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I am not one in favor of war. If I had the power, if I had the say so, I would end all wars. However, the fact of the matter is, until Jesus comes again, wars will continue. The irony of it all, some wars have been fought to end war. The English and Americans fought both world wars in hopes of ending all war. It had become a saying to encourage the effort. It didn’t stop war. Within years there were wars in the Far East and in a while, the US was in the midst of another war, which we tried to avoid.

All recent wars, at least the ones I know of, have started with one thing in common. One nation had hopes of taking control of another. I would name them for you, but you know them all. The reason that they thought they could win the war, the one nation was weaker than the other. The truth, had the US not come to the aid of Korea, it would all be as North Korea is today. Had we not come to the aid of South Vietnam, it would have fallen to the communists much quicker. The tens of thousands that escaped would still be there.

If we go back to Germany, most of the countries it took over, they took without force or little of it. Many countries fell to the Soviet Union with little resistance. The Soviets were in the process of taking over Poland while they they had hopes of shaking the shekels of Germany.

There is a guarantee that if the US were to do away with our army, some other county would immediately begin the takeover. I suspect the attack would come from many directions, possibly even Mexico.

We, as a nation don’t like the idea of going to war. As a nation, we prefer peace. Unfortunately, it is a one sided decision. If one country tries to take us over, then we are at war, like it or not. It is either that or let that county overtake us.

In years past, such attacks were simple. When England took over Scotland, they sent their armies, and eventually they overtook them. When William the Conqueror attacked England, it was at a time when England was weak. The Channel didn’t provide the protection and the better part of England was conquered, rather quickly I might add. Even today, many of the words in the English language come from French, ironically, including Parliament from the French word parler (to speak)

However, when Germany took over Austria, they were taken over from within. On the other hand, in a few days, they used the Blitz to take over Poland. Poland didn’t stand a chance when they were still using cavalry. Poland didn’t want war. They had no plans of attacking Germany. However, they got no vote in the matter. When Germany decided to attack it was almost over before it began; and hence, we had the official beginning of The Second World War.

And guess what. The world had no choice in the matter. There was no vote taken. The decision was made by a little man with a mustache. One day, Britain was considering war against Germany. The next they were rescuing their troops with every small craft they could muster.

There is something of an exception to this pattern, sort of. In April of 1861, the South fired on Fort Sumter. Did the South think the North was weak. Hardly. Yet, the South came close to winning the war. Why? Because the North was ill prepared with poor generals. If a few of the battles had turned out differently, and they almost did, the North would have lost.

My own personal opinion, the North had the equipment and machinery. The South had the skill and determination. Just a few more resources, a few skirmishes go the other way, we would have two nations instead of one.

Determination is one of those things that simply cannot be measured. Look at the Revolutionary War. The Colonies knew it was a hopeless cause. Yet they were determined. To King George, it was little more than a bother in that place across the sea.

The truth is, not all wars start because of weakness. However, for sure weakness is a guarantee for war. Indeed, it is just almost an invitation. It is just almost irresistible for those who want to rule the world. And, there is always someone who wants to rule the world.

On the other hand, strength is always a deterrent. Consider the cold war. Was the term not MAD? Mutually Assured Destruction. It is our strength that kept the Soviets from launching their weapons. It is what kept them from attacking with their planes and ships. If we destroyed our weapons, hoping they would do the same, we would all be speaking Russian now.

In one sentence, we don’t really want to issue any invitations, to any kind of war, whether it be with weapons or in the world of Spy vs Spy. We must remain relentless because they are. If we drop our guard, they will take it as an invitation. And then, it will be an end to it all. There will be no Declaration of Independence or Constitution. We can cease to be as quickly as Austria to Hitler, or Hungary to the USSR.

Wendy’s Closing 140 Underperforming Stores

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I just heard it on the news. Then I did a little checking to verify it. The general reason they gave was the economy but that doesn’t match the term underperforming.

At any rate, I have written a number of times about stores around here that are underperforming, that is to say, they ignore the customers.

Oddly, they just opened a store not far from here a few months ago. It does make me wonder if we are going to lose any around here. Nonetheless, the employees just might take note. Their store might be next, especially if the employees continue to underperform.

As they say here in the south. Don’t surprise me none. The hitch is that a bad reputation is difficult to overcome.

How to Win a War

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As a former enlisted man in the marines, I find it difficult that I would need to remind the officers. Over and over again in boot camp, I was reminded of it and it is simple. As a marine, my job in a war, a battle, or even a skirmish is single fold – to remove the enemies desire to fight. When I have done that, I have won. When we as a fighting force have done that, we have won. When the enemy has removed our desire to fight, they have won.

More often than not, our more recent wars have been lost at home. The enemy has managed to remove the desire of those on the home front to win. It happened in Nam and it has happened in every war since.

Moreover, those who have made the major decisions lost track of how to win. The fact is, when the enemy is so badly beaten that he has lost the desire to fight, then we have won. And so it is after the war, even more than during the war.

Moreover, those wars, all of them should have cost the enemy so badly that he would never-ever want to take up arms against us again. Besides, when others see how we fight, they are less likely to attack us. As an example, we should have taken some of the oil fields of Iraq. We should have taken some of the oil fields of Iran. I don’t know what we could have done in Afghanistan, but given a little time, we could have thought of something. The point is, we never destroyed the desire of them to fight. I know that because they kept fighting. I know that because they are still fighting today.

Worse, others have seen how we fight. They have seen we don’t fight to win and they have seen we quickly lose our desire to fight.

Did They Really Mean it?

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Some have asked the question. However, I know they did. When they called us garbage they meant it. When they said that all the women around Trump are weak and not so bright, they meant it. When they called us deplorable, yep they meant it.

You might ask how I know. It’s easy. Each and every time, didn’t you hear them say, “Oops.” Yeah they did. I heard it. In each and every case, they rushed in unison to say that they didn’t mean it. That sounds like an oops to me.

Can’t Say No

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It seems that choice has been taken away. It has been replaced by the more polite or hopeful replies such as “Remind me later.” I would say I have no idea why, but the fact is, I am very much aware. The simple fact is, as with the old proverbial salesman who is trained to never accept no for an answer, the programming will not accept no for an answer.

Only in this case, we don’t have the option of closing the door. So it is, I can’t say no. However, unbeknownst to them, they irritate me. I just dig my heels in and keep replying remind me later, even though I really mean not while this world still spins.

In other words, I really don’t like it when they they don’t let me say no. I mean, it’s the principle of it. My computer, my decision.

If You Could Read my Mind

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It is the Gordon Lightfoot hit of 1970. Since then, others have recorded it. I liked it the first time I heard it. In fact, I regret that I don’t have a copy of it. In fact, I just went to Nam when it came out, another reason to remember it. However, at least I can hear it on over the internet. According to Wikipedia, Gordon Lightfoot attributes his divorce as inspiration for the lyrics of the song. I have no reason to doubt that. It would seem there is pain in every word, both as written and sung.

Nonetheless, the song, especially the title, is a little interesting, isn’t it? I’m not sure I would like it if you could read my mind, that is unless I could control it. I am afraid you just might find out more about me than I would like.

I suspect it is similar with most of us. To be sure, the vast number of us would like to be able to keep our thoughts private. On the other hand, we would really like to read the minds of others, you know, like our boss. Women might like to know what that good looking man is thinking… or maybe not.

Certainly, the vast number of politicians would not like us to be able to read their minds. You think maybe Kamala would prefer we not know her thoughts. On the other hand, I’m not sure. I almost get the feeling that Trump would prefer we could read his mind. I think he has is telling us what he thinks. If we could read his mind, I don’t think we would have many surprises. I do believe his interest is in making things better for us all.

With Kamala, I don’t need to read her mind to know where her interest lie with her and her party. Her goal is control, in any way she can acquire it. It is what she wants. What I can’t understand, why would anyone want her to have that control, in light of what she has done in the past.

It Is Just Two Sides of the Same Coin

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Communism, Fascism. They are both socialism. They both seek the same thing. They both result in death. Indeed Communism has has arguably resulted in more death than than Fascism. We normally attribute the death of 6 million Jews to Hitler, though it was likely far more. You add to that the deaths of allied soldiers taking back Europe from Nazi control, we might be looking at over another 6 million. Yeah. Pretty close to what Lennon and Stalin killed, in Russia. About one tenth what Mao killed, in China. No telling how many were killed in Indonesia.

The fact is that they use the same methods, the same procedures. Look at Hitler. Look at Stalin. They both lied and called it the truth. They both controlled the media. They both controlled the education system and youth.

Yet, the dems demonize Hitler and Idolize the Soviets. And, of course, they love democracy, as long as the Republicans have no say in running government(s), local or federal. When I look at the dems, I see the same methods as Bolsheviks. They are less violent, but it is not for lack of trying.