The Seventh Day

^"Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." — Exodus 20:9-11

I used to think that doing business on the Lord's Day was okay.  The day wasn't important, only that you try to take a day off to honor the Lord and recharge your batteries.  What I didn't realize then, was that the recharging facility was the church and the juice was corporate worship.  Try finding a worship service on Monday or Tuesday.

I also used to think that "Sabbath Laws" were state mechanisms for kowtowing the people into state submission.  Although I still believe that, I do believe that Christians should abstain from buying or selling on Sunday.

The reason that Christians should "keep the Sabbath" — and "Sabbath" means rest, not seventh
— is that it is required for healthy living.  Most Christians have corporate worship services on Sunday.  Corporate worship is vital to spiritual health.  Buying on the Lord's Day encourages commerce on the Lord's Day.  Jesus said, "Don't make my house a house of merchandise.  We are the Lord's house.  Shopping and working on the Lord's day discourages church attendance and worship.  Worship is responsible for better spiritual, mental and consequently, physical health.  Working and buying on the Lord's Day is anti-Christian and anti-human.

Imagine, if you will, a world where Christians abstained and encouraged the abstinence of Sunday business?  Imagine the lost, with little to do, but wonder if Jesus loved them?  Imagine the lost going to Bible believing churches for social interaction on Sunday.  What a day of rejoicing that would be!

Depreciating the United States Postal Service

Ben Franklin is given the credit of commissioning the first post office service in the colonies as part of the Second Continental Congress. In 1789 the U.S. Constitution empowered Congress " ... establish a post office and post roads". Years after that several competitors vied for the first class letter business only to run up against the monopoly protecting United States government. After a fierce battle with The American Letter Mail company, Congress passed a law prohibiting private citizens from carrying mail.

Today, the U.S. Post Office has less relevance, costs more and solicits tax dollars from the public coffers. It's time to open up the gates of competition and allow FedEx, UPS and anyone who wants to go into the letter carrying business to do so.

We also have a real opportunity to create a new industry. The Post Office has recently lobbied Congress to reduce the delivery days to 5 or 4 days a week. Congress should comply and allow private companies to bid on the other 2 or 3 days. I think that if this were done it could ultimately provide the kind of competitive service that is currently non-existent within the government monopoly.

I'm not against the U.S. Post Office. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a USPS hater, I just believe that it can be better. Free and open competition is always the road to better products and services. This is an opportunity to make a good thing better and we shouldn't pass it up.

You'll never silence the voice of the voiceless

The title of the blog is also the title of a song by Rage Against the Machine. It is a song written by Zack de la Rocha, the bands writer/vocalist, about the unjust imprisonment of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer. The case is controversial. But I don't think that Mumia is "voiceless". He had opportunity to represent himself during his trial and was convicted on the eye witness testimony of five witnesses. Since his conviction he has also written and published books.

Who are the true voiceless

I am an advocate of choice, because without choice there is no liberty. But when only one person gets choice and the other gets subjugated, that is the true oppression of the voiceless. Last year, in this country there were 38,639,842 abortions. Let's say for the sake of argument that 10 percent of those abortions were for life preservation - I am a firm believer of the right of self-defense. That still leaves close to a staggering 35 million unborn children killed. These are the true voiceless. Unborn men and women, who never got a chance to defend themselves, or even plead for their lives. These millions weren't sent to their deaths on the testimony of 5 but by the consent of one. Women, who will never be mothers and men who will never be fathers, so that someone would not be inconvenienced. If that seemed cold and harsh, well that is nothing compared to the way those millions were dispatched.

Who's to blame?

Ultimately, the guilt falls on the killer. But would such a thing be possible without the cultural attitudes that exalt selfish behavior over responsibility? Every time we promote the sensual or expedient over responsibility, we reinforce this destructive cultural attitude. "If it feel's good do it!" ignores the consequences of short-sighted actions.

What about zygote?

Is it a human being? Of course it is. Everybody knows it. In the pit of your selfish, self-centered heart, it's undeniable. It's always a baby  until you don't want to face the responsibility of your actions. Oh, it would interfere with my "career goals". The very idea that you might be the one responsible for someone's sole survival is maybe scary. But that is no excuse to deny your responsibility. The debate is a distraction and a justification for irresponsible living. Only humans seek to euthanize their own. Nature's model shows other creatures nurturing their young. Oh, sure, there are examples of animals eating their own for food, but killing for convenience? How do you justify the destruction of innocent life in this manner? You can't! So, you make up fables, and manufacture fake "scientific evidence" in the attempt to sooth your conscience.

The Consequences

The consequences are the denial of the value of individuals, their lives and rights to life. How can you be against the mass murder of war and not hate the mass murder of abortion? How can you voice your support for justice, when so many never get a chance to be heard? How can we voice our opposition to the cruel despots of other countries, when we deny the most basic of human rights to the most helpless in our society. You will never silence the voice of the voiceless.

"Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss ..." - The Who

Now that we have entered the age of Obama, one thing will change - we can now move past the race issue to more important issues. What other changes will Obama bring? Nothing much. Unlike some of my other libertarian and democrat friends, I will be very surprised if Obama does much different than McCain or Bush. Why would he? He made no promises outside of the obscure promise of "change" — and that could mean anything.

The War in Iraq

Obama, contrary to the proclamations of the so-called peace movement, made no promises to end the war. So far the only thing written in stone is Obama's statement about beginning a withdrawal in 2011. But that's a good 2 years away and anything can happen in that time. Previous Obama declarations are to bomb Pakistan. So much for our peace candidate.

The War on Drugs

Obama has made clear that although he thinks that it is counter productive to victimize medical patients prescribed Marijuana, he will continue with the expensive, failed policies of his predecessors.

Economy

Obama, like his mentor, G.W. Bush, is a Keynesian, so he will continue to try to spend us into prosperity. If billions of dollars in spending wouldn't help the U.S. economy, maybe trillions will?!

Epilogue

It's early, he's young, and maybe he will learn. I cross my fingers in hope.

Soaking the Poor

Those who believe that Barack Obama is a savior for the poor, working and middle class, just had their hopes dashed. The junior Senator along with the other criminal element in D.C. just passed the "Soak the poor" bailout bill supposedly designed to "save" the U.S. financial system.

What will this mean for us here in the states? Well, first off it will mean that the national debt will be enlarged in order to help rich bankers. This is money for which those of us, primarily in the middle class will be on the hook. As the national debt climbs more and more of our GNP will be devoted to paying the interest on this debt. So long term this will affect taxpayers.

In the short term this will affect the poor and the working poor and the middle class by raising the cost of living. The money that the state will use to bailout the financial industry will be newly manufactured fiat money. Which means that it will instantly devalue any dollars you and I have in our pockets and in our savings. Those with tangible assets, like real estate and precious metals will realize an increase in their value as the market adjusts. Additionally food prices and other perishable and non-perishable prices will become relatively higher — relatively, that is, to what they otherwise would have been.

How does this work? Well, money is part of any market economy, therefore it is subjet to all the rules of economics. The rule of supply and demand is the one that regulates value. When a potato crop fails, the cost of potatos goes up because of their scarcity. Likewise when their is a bumper crop, the potato farmers get less per pound, because there is more competition. Competition always drives the price down. Sometimes to bolster prices the military will buy "surplus" food from farmers to help them lower the overall supply and bolster prices. Of course then also demand for a product determines the price as well. If a study came out about tainted potatos and everyone started eating rice as a side, this would decrease demand and even during a year with crop failures, potatos may not rise in price. Money, however is a medium of exchange, and is necessary whether you buy potatos or rice. The demand for money changes only with the international markets and inflation. For example, if there were only 1,000 dollars in existence, the scarcity of dollars would drive up the buying power of the dollar and a new car might cost $1. If the government printed another 1,000 dollar bills, all other things remaining equal, the cost of a new car would now be $2. So, with the expansion of the money supply by the FED, it will now cost more money for all people spending dollars to live.

With the latest welfare package for rich bankers passing in congress, the stage is set for increased misery for the rest of us. The recession was nothing more than a correction of the inflationary practices of the FED. Having further inflated the supply of money, there will have to be another correction to stablize the economy. Depending on how the money system is inflated this could be sooner or later, but I wouldn't pull that money out of your matress just yet. For more information on money and how it works, download this free eBook, "What has Government Done to Our Money" By Dr. Murray Rothbard.

Health of the state

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." -Lord Acton

“War is the common harvest of all those who participate in the division and expenditure of public money, in all countries. It is the art of conquering at home; the object of it is an increase of revenue; and as revenue cannot be increased without taxes, a pretence must be made for expenditure. In reviewing the history of the English Government, its wars and its taxes, a bystander, not blinded by prejudice nor warped by interest, would declare that taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes.”
-Thomas Paine, Rights of man, the first

“War is health of the state” -Randolph Bourne

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

-George Washington, 1732 - 1799

I recently viewed two films that reignited my conflict with this current war, this current president and my smoldering questions regarding the 9-11 attack. The first movie I saw was “America: Freedom to Fascism” by Aaron Russo. A friend invited me over to preview the film that would probably not make it to the theaters in our fair city, but was scheduled to open soon. The movie focused on the lies regarding the validity, constitutionality and legitimacy of the personal income tax and the historical background regarding the Federal Reserve Bank. Although much of what this film showed was public domain knowledge that you can find anywhere on the Internet, it did remind me of the outlaw nature of the state. It also reinforced the idea put forth in a quote by George Washington that “government is force”, and that the brutish use of force is the hallmark of government.

The next day my brother showed me “Loose Change 2”, a documentary questioning the 9-11 events. I was in my car traveling to Knoxville, TN when the planes flew into the twin towers. I remember thinking, “Oh, no. They’re going to take all our freedoms away.” The thing reminded me of the Waco tragedy and all the other nefarious stuff I’ve seen this government do. … And blame some vagabond in the Middle East? How cliché!

Those of you who oppose capitalism as some kind of evil, need worry no more. What is left of the free market system, will silently go into that totalitarian dark night, and only a fascist illusion of the freedom will remain.