A Montana Reject and Proud Raving Lunatic

A Montana Reject and Proud Raving Lunatic

I am going to stray a little into the political tonight.

The one and ONLY thing I can find some agreement with the current batch of republicans about, is the immegration issue.

Oh I know the liberal stance is amnesty. It is just that I happen to disagree with that stance. It is not that I want to see a bunch of people here illegally charged for their action of illegally entering this country. I don't really have a mean-spirited bone in my body, and revenge is not something I am comfortable with.

I am just a believer in enforcing the law of the land. If you want to stop illegal immegration,I believe the best way to approach it is to eliminate the reason people are illegally entering this country in the first place.

To do that, I think "employers" need to be held as accountable if not more accountable than the immegrants themselves. Employers entice illegals by providing them ILLEGALLY with jobs. Why do employers do that? Because of greed plain and simple. By encouraging and hiring illegals they have basically an unlimited supply of workers willing to WORK FOR LESS! This keeps the wages of the American people (citizens, middle class, you know .... yours truly, and our sons, daughters, and grandchildren) lower than they otherwise would be.

This is why Bush is so in favor of amnesty. Corporate, business people ... his base... are for amnesty. They do NOT want the law already on the books applied to THEM. It is not in THEIR interest to hold them accountable in a court of law.

Oh, I know the argument could be made that by allowing amnesty the democratic party most likely would be the benefactor of the resultant voting block. My argument is that the democratic party will also be the benefactor IF the law already on the books is upheld, employers are charged and convicted for hiring illegal aliens, and immegration is thus discouraged because jobs available to them will dry up. Wages for poor and middle class Americans will thus raise, and poor and middle class workers who have benefited from this increase in their wellfare will be primarily democratic voters anyway.

Amnesty benefits corporations plain and simple, and is not in the best interest of poor and middle class American workers, and therefore should not be encouraged or legislated by either democrats or republicans, for by doing so, they are encouraging or legislating breaking the law of the land which states that it is illegal for an employer to employ someone in this country without a green card.

End of argument! Wise up America ... and encourage lawmakers to force employers to obey OBEY the law of the land by holding THEM responsible and accountable when they break the law by hiring illegal aliens!

Later!

A Montana Reject and Proud Raving Lunatic

A Montana Reject and Proud Raving Lunatic

Sometimes I feel as though I have been abandoned by God, left to my own devices to deal with the tribulation of the moment. When I begin to feel down on God and the slightest mental inducement towards anger creeps into my consciousness, I become weaker and more unable to correct the situation I find myself in.

I am of the opinion that the Creator is in me ... not an abstract being in some mysterious place. As long as I remain convinced that I possess a piece of God, I am better able to control my circumstance. When I digress and submit to the ramblings of religious bigots who insist that God is all powerful and far removed from us all, I become less powerful and far far removed from the ability to control my reality.

God is in me, not outside of me ... therefore, I can deal with this pain ... I think?

Later

A Montana Reject and Proud Raving Lunatic

A Montana Reject and Proud Raving Lunatic


Keep your eye on the PRIZE!
When things happen that we are made aware of that are upsetting to us, often it is because the offender didn’t keep his eye on the prize. That is what happened (I believe) with the Ted Haggard situation.
I am not an evangelical, and I certainly am not a Republican … I am however a Christian. For me, this means that before everything else, I have to keep my eyes, my ears, my whole being focused upon the teachings of Christ. I am keeping my eye on the prize.
For Christians, the prize is forgiveness. The only route to absolute forgiveness is through the sacrifice of Christ. This is why it concerns me so much to see the actions of the churches in this country who have become so caught up in the abortion issue, the gay marriage issue, and other issues such as Terri Schiavo. These issues lose sight of the prize and in fact are intended (I believe) on diverting the attention away from the prize.
Certainly for Christians Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John are far more important than Leviticus. If that is not the case, then the offending Christian has lost sight of the prize. If condemnation of those who seek abortions or those who are gay is more the focus of your church than helping the poor and middle class, then you are simply in the wrong church!
The failings of Ted Haggart, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Baker are nothing more than the failings of men, and have nothing to do with the true church. The true church keeps its eye on the prize and practices forgiveness in everything. Therefore, true Christians overlook the failings of men and keep their eye on the prize. If we are unforgiving, the sacrifice of Christ and His forgiveness will be denied.
Later!

A Montana Reject and Proud Raving Lunatic

A Montana Reject and Proud Raving Lunatic

Why is it that the closer we get to having God in government, the farther away government seems to move from the teachings of Christ?

I think the founding fathers understood that theocratic governance WAS NOT in the best interests of the people. Perhaps the American continent inquisition known as the Salem witch trials played a small but pivotal part in their opinion that church and spiritual matters needed to be kept in the heart and sanctuary, and politics had best be kept clear of vestments, cathedrals, and piety. This is nothing more than conjecture on my part however, and my assumption relative to this may be all wrong. Oh well, the God I believe in is a forgiving God, and he understands that being mortal, I am basically flawed by nature and am going to make mistakes. But, I do not believe I am correct in believing with all my being that the founding fathers did not opt for a theocracy for a reason, that reason being that "churches" tend THIER flocks, while governments are charged with tending everyone's flock.

It would not have served the country well to only be concerned about the well being of Baptists while ignoring the needs of Episcopalians, Hindus, Presbyterians, Methodists, etc. Therefore, the founding fathers opted for a republic, and with Thomas Jeffersons writings as evidence, the conclusion by most in this country has been for 200 years that separation of church and state was the founding fathers intention.

It is my humble opinion following 57 years of thought on the matter that spirituality is a good thing! I have transformed myself through the years from Lutheran to agnostic, agnostic to athiest, athiest to agnostic, agnostic to spiritualist, spiritualist to Lutheran, and finally, Lutheran to Catholic. 57 years of thought and observation has also led me to believe that church inside my government is a VERY BAD thing.

So much of what people "think" they know is wrong. In example, if the Bible is the absolute inspired work of our creator, why did it take the actions of "political theocrats" in the 2nd century to convene a commission to decide which ancient texts would be included? I propose that God inspired in one way or another everything EVER written, so it seems suspicious to me that some texts were deemed not suitable for inclusion.

I am not proposing that the Bible is incorrect .... what I do suspect is that it is incomplete. It is incomplete intentionally, by design if you will. What did the second century political theocrats want us NOT TO KNOW, and why?

More tomorrow! Later!

A Montana Reject and Proud Raving Lunatic

A Montana Reject and Proud Raving Lunatic

A friend died today ... a dear friend. Ron and I go wayyyyyy back. I met him within months of being discharged, and he and I both worked for the same company. He (like I) was newly married, and both of us were entirely full of ourselves.

Youth is such a marvelous thing isn't it? Marvelous in that in youth, one feels invincible. The mere thought of being mortal and fragile is not something one can comprehend at 21. We conducted ourselves according to our invincibility, our im-mortality, and our im-maturity. Life was good.

When young, alcohol played a big part in the establishment of my place in the pecking order. It also played a large part in Rons life. As I aged, I discovered after numerous errors, that I was beyond squirrelly while sober, and absolutely a maniac when drinking. I consequently decided one day that alcohol would no longer play a role in my life, and I quit drinking almost overnight. Ron did not, but it did not matter. He and I were friends, and he laughed at me drunk, and he continued to enjoy my particular humor and personality when I was sober. I always enjoyed Ron's company, his zest for life was never impaired when he was drinking. He was intelligent, a great conversationalist, a loyal friend, and an honorable man.

I will miss him. Most of all, I will miss the notion that somewhere in this world Ron is walking around spouting his particular brand of bullshit and then smiling at you in that crooked way he had which told you he didn't mind that you knew it was crap. He intended for most of what he did to shock you ... that was Ron's schtick .... he wanted you to be as amazed by living as he was.

Go with the wind my friend. I know you will always have a cold one in your right hand, a smoke hanging out of one side of your mouth, and a joke spewing from your lips. I also know that the spirit which you denied while alive, now enjoys your company. God needed a good laugh in these trying times, and that is why you were taken now. Go with the wind, Ron Beeler ... and goodbye dear friend.