Propaganda from “The Cruel Practices of Prince Rupert”, 1643
I cannot remember a time when one faction of one party promises economic chaos if it can’t get 100% of what it wants. That’s never happened before but that’s what’s happening right now.
~ President Barak Obama, 16 September 2013
An honest media would have picked up on that quote and loudly pointed out that the government has actually been shut down 17 times since 1977. The longest shutdown was 21 days during 16 December 1995 – 5 Jan 1996. If that wasn’t chaotic, I don’t know what is.
The United States federal government shutdown of 1995 and 1996 was the result of conflicts between Democratic President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress over funding for Medicare, education, the environment, and public health in the 1996 federal budget. The government shut down after Clinton vetoed the spending bill the Republican Party-controlled Congress sent him. The federal government of the United States put non-essential government workers on furlough and suspended non-essential services from November 14 through November 19, 1995 and from December 16, 1995 to January 6, 1996, for a total of 28 days. The major players were President Clinton and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich.
~ Wikipedia, United States federal government shutdown of 1995 and 1996
The really insulting thing about it all is that even if the government shuts down, the politicians still get their paychecks. They really know how to take care of themselves, it seems, no matter whether it is health care, private schools for the kids, insider stock tips (seriously!) or getting paid for doing literally nothing of substance. At least if they weren’t getting paid, a government shutdown would probably be worth it.
It is also interesting that Obama can draw a moving red line and bend over backwards for Syria and the “moderate” Iranian president but play hardball with Republicans, the Tea Party and its groups trying to receive 501(c)(3) status, not to mention people who have the audacity to believe what their Bibles and religious leaders teach them. I suppose the latter shouldn’t surprise us, either, considering someone who apparently slept through “Reverend” Jeremiah Wright’s anti-American babblings. Somehow, he didn’t “know” all these things Wright taught.
Contrast the media’s reaction to President George W Bush, and it is striking on several fronts. The charges that he and Vice President Dick Cheney were stretching the extent of WMDs in Iraq never stopped, and rightly so. However, they were also most unfair in their treatment of Bush in many other areas. Even when Bush flew over the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, people went out of their way to criticize that of all things!
When it comes to religious matters Christianity, the biases get even worse. Bill O’Reilly recently wrote Killing Jesus, and as I said before, I have no intention of reading it because he seems to want to allegorize and spiritualize far too many biblical narratives away as it is. However, he gave an interview where he said he felt the Holy Spirit was leading him to write it, and that prompted open mocking by secularists in the media right away. It is interesting how acceptable it is to openly mock Christianity, but if someone makes even a true statement about the beliefs of Islam that sounds the least critical, then the hypocritical press is ready to jump all over the person who made the statement.
Take, for example, a somewhat known technology reporter who opined that she was in essence a “creationist”. Now, I think it more accurate to say she believed in intelligent design, which is a much looser hypothesis, but that didn’t prevent attacks from those who claimed she lost sight of the end goal. Or, how about Dr “Ben Carson’s creationist views spark controvery [sic] over commencement speech“? I mean, really? Why is that so hard for “educators” to swallow? Since when did education become more about shutting down dissent rather than listening to all sides of an issue?
There are constant attacks against teaching intelligent design in schools or in some cases even against the mention of an alternative theory. That’s how deep the idolatry is! We feed our kids lies, we tell them they will live, maybe have some good times and then die for no reason at all. Is it any wonder they seem lost, aimless and given to destructive behavior? An atheist can claim you make your own reason for living, but in the end they cannot even give you a reason to do that! Think about it. It becomes a vicious circle of reasoning that spirals downward after a time. Yet, it is ironic that “free thinkers” are the ones who want to stifle expression of an idea!
I used to think “free thinkers” meant one who allowed themselves to think outside of the box. Apparently, it means that one turns a blind eye to the truth and believes everything but. Obviously, it is more about feelings and emotion than logic and reason.
“Even if a god appeared and started poofing things out of nothing, that still wouldn’t prove the Bible because that collection of contrived and plagiarized fairy tales has already been disproved beyond redemption, and not even the existence of god could change that,” the video blogger Aron Ra said Sunday during Apostacon.
The Raw Story, “Disproving evolution won’t save creationism, atheist activist says“
Any detached observer cannot escape noticing the downright stubborn insistence in clinging to one’s beliefs in spite of facts and reason pour out of that statement like a sieve.
Also of note, Popular Science magazine is shutting off comments. Why? Because “trolls and spambots” allegedly hijack the comments on issues like evolution and climate change. Granted, trolls and spambots alike are a problem in any online medium, but to totally turn them off? Isn’t science about debating ideas? Isn’t that what is supposed to foster learning? Of course, if science is your religion and its ideals too sacrosanct to be questioned, then it is falling in line with other avenues of “science” so called.
I am amazed at “rational” scientists who finally realize the impossibility of evolution due to their own experiments that purport to support the theory, and so they resign themselves to literal science fiction and claim that the earth was seeded somehow by life from other planets, perhaps Mars which is a very dead planet indeed. This is the stuff that comic books are made of!
There once was a time where serious suggestions like that would be received with encouragements to see your doctor.
Remember, science can never be wrong, after all.
Aug. 7, 2012 — A New Zealand volcano suddenly erupted after lying dormant for more than a century, spewing an ash plume that disrupted flights and closed highways, officials said Tuesday.
The Mount Tongariro volcano, in the middle of North Island, erupted just before midnight (1200 Monday GMT) in the first significant activity at the site since 1897, the official monitoring body GNS Science said.
~ Discovery D News, “Dormant Volcano Erupts Without Warning: Big Pic“
Science believed the volcano to be dormant, but it erupted! This isn’t by far the only one, either. For example, in 2010, a “Long-dormant volcano erupts in [Jakarta] Indonesia” after 400 years. Another is Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska, which erupted in September 2006 after it was thought to have been dead for 10,000 years.
Culture is supposed to be about maintaining the story of a society. However, many have consciously tried to spin that story into an absolutely delusional fable. Scientists have an agenda. Politicians have an agenda. Militant atheists have an agenda. It should be no surprise to you that gay activists have an agenda.
You probably have heard about “Pasta firm Barilla boycotted over ‘classic family’ remarks“. Yet, to hear gay activists report it, Barilla “doesn’t like” gays or even outright “Since Barilla hates gays”. There does seem to be some confusion over exactly what Guido Barilla said, and it doesn’t seem to all be translations issues oddly enough. Still, not a single quote I’ve seen say he “doesn’t like” or even “hates” gays at all! No, rather, he is sticking up for “traditional” or some translate it “classic” families! So many in the media are peddling lies and deceit.
These are all idols. Literally. Sanity means facing reality, but all of these try to bend reality to what you want it to be. That is nothing less than the definition of idolatry.
That’s why people don’t understand God, with a capital ‘G’. He is not an idol that you pay 5 minutes of attention to in order to bargain for what you want. No, He is King, and while you may petition Him, He is still in charge.
Anything can become an idol. When something becomes an idol, we look for validation of that idol rather than the truth and reject anything that doesn’t fit the neat little mold we have made from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Supposedly, the Bible mentions deception 93 times. I have not counted them, but “be not deceived” does pop up easily five times. That doesn’t include the other variations that exist, either. It is a direct command, and one of them from Jesus Himself.
God is a God of Truth. Think about what the phrase “thy word is truth” (Jn 17:17b) means. Obviously, His written word is truth, and in it are the many promises He made which are truth. That’s why throwing away roughly half of the Bible makes no sense. If God’s word is truth, then those words are still valid and need to be studied!
However, it means much more than that even. Jesus was the “Word”. The “Word” became flesh (Jn 1:14). Jesus was the living, breathing Word! And, God’s Word is truth! He is the embodiment of truth.
That is why a recent comment I heard on a podcast really hit me. When society tolerates anything but Christianity, they are rejecting Jesus. They are tolerating anything but The Truth!
Truth is just another word for reality. Rejecting truth is rejecting reality. And that, by definition, is insanity.