Healthcare Taxes -> Ric Edelman Says Life Got Harder

Icebear: This is the commentary that Ric Edelman offered on the new Healthcare laws.

Health Care Reform: Life Just Got Harder

The health care bill is now law. As a result, taxes are rising. Many middle-class working Americans will soon incur greater expenses for services they have already been receiving. As a humanitarian, I don’t believe anybody can argue with the principle of providing health insurance to 32 million Americans who have not had access to it. But those benefits have a high cost, and middle-class working Americans will be the ones paying for it.

Let’s take a look at the new taxes that the 2010 health care law has created. Most will be phased in over the next few years and are as follows:

2010

Starting July 1, indoor tanning salons will charge a 10% sales tax.

2011

Pharmaceutical manufacturers will collectively pay a new excise tax, starting at $2.5 billion and rising over time. The drug makers will no doubt pass this new cost onto consumers.

Non-qualified distributions from Health Savings Accounts will be taxed at 20% instead of the current rate of 10%. That’s a 100% tax increase.

2012

Private insurance plans will be forced to pay the government $1 or $2 each year for each participant. If you have health insurance through a private insurance plan, you will likely be required to pay this charge.

2013

Medicare payroll taxes will rise 62% for those earning more than $200,000 a year ($250,000 if you are married filing jointly). The tax on wages in excess of $200,000 (or $250,000) is rising from 1.45% to 2.35%. That’s an additional tax of 0.9%, or a 62% increase.

There will also be a new 3.8% tax on gross investment income for those earning more than $200,000 ($250,000 for married filing jointly). “Investment income” includes interest, dividends, capital gains, rental income, annuities and royalties. In addition to this new tax, capital gains taxes are set to rise in 2011 from 15% to 20% — that’s a 33% increase. Therefore, for people who are making over $200,000 a year ($250,000 if you are married filing jointly), the total tax on capital gains is jumping from 15% to 23.8%. That’s a 59% increase.

Medical device manufacturers must collect a new national sales tax of 2.9%. You will directly pay this tax, but it will not apply to eyeglasses, contact lenses or hearing aids.

Employers will no longer receive a subsidy for providing retiree prescription drug coverage. Companies will pay more to provide such benefits as a result (AT&T has already announced that it will pay $1 billion in new taxes annually because of this provision). Similar announcements have been made by John Deere ($150 million), Caterpillar ($100 million), 3M Company ($90 million) and AK Steele ($31 million), and many more companies in the Fortune 500 are expected to make similar announcements soon. It is widely expected that Corporate America will pass these costs onto consumers in the form of higher prices for their goods and services, reduce the benefits they provide to their retired employees (who will in turn be forced to pay higher health care costs) or both.

You will not be able to deduct medical expenses on your tax return until you’ve spent 10% of your Adjusted Gross Income. Currently, you can begin deductions after you spend 7.5% of your AGI. Therefore, this is a 33% increase in the threshold.

Contributions to Flexible Spending Accounts will be capped at $2,500 per year, and you will no longer be able to use the money to buy over-the-counter drugs. This change will cause some taxpayers to pay as much as several thousand dollars more in health care expenses and in annual income taxes.

If you’re an executive in the health insurance industry and earn more than half a million dollars a year, taxes will effectively double for all of your income above $500,000.

2014

Employers with more than 50 employees that do not provide health insurance to their employees will pay a $2,000 penalty per employee per year, starting with the 31st employee.

If you do not have health insurance, you and each member of your household will pay a new tax of 1% of household income (at least $95 per person per year). This tax will rise to 2.5% per year (at least $695 per person) by 2016.

2018

Health insurance plans that cost more than $10,200 for individuals ($27,500 per family) will pay a new 40% tax on any coverage that exceeds the limit. Plan sponsors will no doubt pass this cost along to you.

In addition to these new taxes, the new health care law cuts federal funding of Medicare by $500 billion over the next decade. The states will find themselves forced to deal with this cutback, and they will have little choice but to increase state income taxes, force Medicare patients to pay more of their health care costs, or both.

Medicare is not the only entitlement program likely to see cuts. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 2010 will be the first year that Social Security pays out more in benefits than it collects in payroll taxes. This was not expected to occur until 2016. Based on current projections, Social Security will be broke by 2037 unless changes are made. That means taxes will rise, and benefits will be delayed or reduced, or all three.

Retirees are already feeling pressure. There was no cost of living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security in 2010, and none is expected for 2011 either. This represents a net decrease in income for retirees, because Medicare taxes continue to rise despite the fact that there is no offsetting increase in Social Security benefits.

Meanwhile, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College released a study in March 2010 showing that married retirees who are both 65 years of age and currently free of chronic disease will spend $197,000 on health care during retirement. And a 2008 study from the Schwab Center for Financial Research says that one-third of baby boomers are currently providing financial assistance to parents, and 50% are providing support to children, proving that millions of Americans are true members of the so-called “Sandwich Generation.”

All these statistics help explain why 84% of Americans say they are not confident that they will ever be able to retire, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2010 Retirement Confidence Survey.

Radio legend to run for president?

I have been a listener to Coast to Coast since 1995. This is a rather interesting development. -Eisbär

'I would not hesitate to make my birth certificate available'

Posted: March 09, 2010
10:03 pm Eastern

© 2010 WorldNetDaily

Applicants for the Oval Office in 2012 already have begun lining up, just one year into President Obama's term, amid CBS poll results that overwhelming flunk the first-term Democrat and show a majority of Americans opposed to Obama's No. 1 agenda item – nationalized health care.

Among the possible candidates is Coast to Coast AM radio talk-show host George Noory, who told WND right away that there would be no questions about his eligibility as there are about Obama's qualifications under the Constitution's requirement that a president be a "natural born citizen."

"I was born in Detroit, Mich., in 1950, and I would not hesitate to make my birth certificate available to every member of the media," he said.

Obama has faced a long list of legal and other challenges alleging he either was not born in Hawaii as he has stated, or that he was not qualified because of his father's foreign citizenship at his birth.

Several of the challenges still are pending in various appellate level courts, and there has begun a move among the states to require candidates for the office of president to provide documentation of eligibility before being allowed on state ballots.

Noory previously told WND he would respond if drafted as a candidate for presidential and later repeated the promise.

"I have never run for political office," he said, "but every night I am reaching out to millions of Americans on the radio and I am deeply concerned that the middle class of the United States is being sold out to multi-national corporations with a globalist agenda.

"I have historically remained non-partisan, but as long as the United States remains a two-party system, it's increasingly hard to tell the difference between Republicans and Democrats. People are looking for someone in government to tell them the truth – we need that now more than ever," he said.

One of his concerns is energy independence.

"We need to free ourselves right now, not 10 years from now, from our dependence on foreign oil," Noory said. "We are being strangled by the oil cartels."

Further, the income tax is hurting the nation, he said.

"The income tax needs to be abolished or greatly restructured," Noory said, "because Americans deserve to get 100 percent use of the money they work hard to earn.

"I would do away with the federal withholding taxes

on income and go to a sales tax as an alternative," he said. "Americans who work hard for their money have a right to keep what they earn."

Noory, who Noory served nine years in the U.S. Naval Reserve, also worries about the influence of a globalist agenda on the U.S. He has devoted shows to casting a spotlight on efforts to merge the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

"We need a government that does not give in to a globalist agenda," Noory said, "an agenda I am now convinced seeks to bring America as a sovereign nation and the middle class to their knees."

The economy further causes him concern, he said.

"Why are we outsourcing millions high-paying jobs to China and India?" he asked. "Why don't we secure the border and stop the country being flooded with millions of illegal immigrants? These are important questions on the mind of middle class voters all over America who are worried the politicians aren't listening."

"Jobs, jobs, jobs – that needs to be our national focus right now."

On health care, he said true reform can only come about when a bipartisan plan is developed.

Will he actually join the race?

"That's a huge question," Noory answered. "Right now, I'll continue to focus on 'Coast to Coast AM.' But, who knows? I'm certainly not convinced that professional politicians in either the Democratic or Republican parties have what the majority of American voters want in a president."

His "Coast to Coast AM" contract with Premiere Radio recently was extended another year, to run until 2013. But he has told his audience he considers 2012 a threshold year in which worldwide politics will transform into a new era of freedom.

WND staff reporter Jerome Corsi is a frequent guest in Noory's program and has addressed topics ranging from international economics and the prospects for emerging from the current global recession to foreign policy and Iran's push for nuclear weapons.

WND asked Noory how he could be a serious candidate for president when "Coast to Coast AM" has been known for its emphasis on UFOs, ancient Egypt and the supernatural.

"The current crop of political candidates looks out of touch, saying nothing new or genuine. By 2012 people are going to be saying, 'We cannot continue down the path we have been going as it will lead us only back to the familiar dead end we now see in Congress and the White House,'" he said.

"Coast to Coast AM" has the largest nighttime radio audience in the United States, reaching an estimated 3 to 5 million Americans seven days a week on AM radio.

Noory and also has hosted WND Jerusalem Bureau Chief Aaron Klein to discuss his book "Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land, Jihadists Reveal Their Global Plans to a Jew!"

Legend of giant man-eating New Zealand eagle is TRUE

The Daily Mail

15th September 2009

A massive man-eating bird of prey from ancient Maori legend really did exist, according to new research.

Scientists have known about the existence of Haast's eagle for over a century based on excavated bones, but the behaviour of these giant birds was not clear.

As the eagles weighed up to 40 lbs some scientists presumed they were scavengers rather than the predators from mythology.

Scientists used computerised CT scans to reconstruct the Haast's eagle from a fossil of its skull

But a new study has revealed the eagle as a fearsome predator that probably swooped on flightless birds and even children from a high mountain perch.

Researchers Paul Scofield of the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand and Ken Ashwell of the University of New South Wales used computerised CT and CAT scans to reconstruct the size of the brain, eyes, ears and spinal cord of this ancient eagle.

More...

• Life was in the oceans 200m years before oxygen made air fit to breathe

This data was compared to values from modern predatory and scavenging birds to determine the habits of the extinct eagle.

Professor Scofield said the findings are similar to what he found in Maori folk tales.

'The science supports Maori mythology of the legendary pouakai or hokioi, a huge bird that could swoop down on people in the mountains and was capable of killing a small child,' he said.

An illustration shows a Haast eagle attack flightless moa in New Zealand

The researchers also determined the eagle quickly evolved from a much smaller ancestor, with the body growing much more quickly than the brain. They believe its body grew 10 times bigger during the early to middle Pleistocene period, 700,000 to 1.8 million years ago.

'This work is a great example of how rapidly evolving medical techniques and equipment can be used to solve ancient medical mysteries,' Professor Ashwell said.

They wrote their conclusions in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Scientists believe the Haast's eagle became extinct due to habitat destruction and the extinction of its prey species at the hands of early Polynesian settlers.

New Zealand paleontologist Trevor Worthy said: 'They provide a convincing case that the body of this eagle has rapidly enlarged, presumably adapting to the very much larger prey it had access to in New Zealand, but that the brain size had lagged behind this increase.'

Before the humans colonized New Zealand about 750 years ago, the largest inhabitants were birds like the Haast's eagle and the moa.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1213319/Legendary-giant-man-eating-bird-did-exist.html#ixzz0RJU36Vsf

Fragment from world's oldest Bible found hidden in Egyptian monastery

Academic stumbles upon previously unseen section of Codex Sinaiticus dating back to 4th century

By Jerome Taylor, Religious Affairs Correspondent

Wednesday, 2 September 2009

A page from the earliest surviving Bible, of which another fragment has been discovered in Egypt

A British-based academic has uncovered a fragment of the world's oldest Bible hiding underneath the binding of an 18th-century book.

Nikolas Sarris spotted a previously unseen section of the Codex Sinaiticus, which dates from about AD350, as he was trawling through photographs of manuscripts in the library of St Catherine's Monastery in Egypt.

The Codex, handwritten in Greek on animal skin, is the earliest known version of the Bible. Leaves from the priceless tome are divided between four institutions, including St Catherine's Monastery and the British Library, which has held the largest section of the ancient Bible since the Soviet Union sold its collection to Britain in 1933.

Academics from Britain, America, Egypt and Russia collaborated to put the entire Codex online this year but new fragments of the book are occasionally rediscovered.

Mr Sarris, 30, chanced upon the fragment as he inspected photographs of a series of book bindings that had been compiled by two monks at the monastery during the 18th century.

Over the centuries, antique parchment was often re-used by St Catherine's monks in book bindings because of its strength and the relative difficulty of finding fresh parchment in such a remote corner of the world.

A Greek student conservator who is studying for his PhD in Britain, Mr Sarris had been involved in the British Library's project to digitise the Codex and quickly recognised the distinct Greek lettering when he saw it poking through a section of the book binding. Speaking from the Greek island of Patmos yesterday, Mr Sarris said: "It was a really exciting moment. Although it is not my area of expertise, I had helped with the online project so the Codex had been heavily imprinted in my memory. I began checking the height of the letters and the columns and quickly realised we were looking at an unseen part of the Codex."

Mr Sarris later emailed Father Justin, the monastery's librarian, to suggest he take a closer look at the book binding. "Even if there is a one-in-a-million possibility that it could be a Sinaiticus fragment that has escaped our attention, I thought it would be best to say it rather than dismiss it."

Only a quarter of the fragment is visible through the book binding but after closer inspection, Father Justin was able to confirm that a previously unseen section of the Codex had indeed been found. The fragment is believed to be the beginning of Joshua, Chapter 1, Verse 10, in which Joshua admonishes the children of Israel as they enter the promised land.

Speaking to The Art Newspaper, Father Justin said the monastery would use scanners to look more closely at how much of the fragment existed under the newer book binding. "Modern technology should allow us to examine the binding in a non-invasive manner," he said.

Mr Sarris said his find was particularly significant because there were at least 18 other book bindings in the monastery's library that were compiled by the same two monks that had re-used the Codex. "We don't know whether we will find more of the Codex in those books but it would definitely be worth looking," he said.

The library in St Catherine's does not have the laboratory conditions needed to carefully peel away the binding without damaging the parchment underneath but the library is undergoing renovations that might lead to the construction of a lab with the correct equipment to do so.

The Bible: A brief history

Although earlier fragments of the Bible have survived the passage of time, the Codex Sinaiticus is so significant because it is by far the most complete. The full text that has been discovered so far contains virtually all of the New Testament and about half of the Old Testament.

But whenever an ancient version of the holy book is found, it often raises questions about the evolution of the Bible and how close what we read today is to the original words of Christ and his early followers.

The Old Testament was written largely in Hebrew (with the odd Aramaic exception) but it is by no means a homogenous entity. Protestant and more recent Catholic versions of the Bible tend to use the Masoretic Text, a variation of the Hebrew Old Testament that was copied, edited and distributed by Jewish Masorete scholars between the 7th and 11th centuries. Earlier Catholic translations and the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches use the Septuagint, an ancient Greek version of the Hebrew text that was translated between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC.

In studying the early history of the New Testament, historians have about 5,650 handwritten copies in Greek on which they can draw, many of which are distinctly different. As Christianity consolidated its power through the first millennia, the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John came to form the key elements of the New Testament.

But other apocryphal writings were discarded along the way. The Shepherd of Hermas, for instance, is a Christian literary work of the 2nd century which appears in the Codex Sinaiticus and was considered part of the Bible by some early Christians but was later expunged. The most well-known apocryphal gospel is that of Thomas, a collection of 114 numbered sayings attributed to Jesus that was discovered in 1945. As it never refers to Jesus as "Christ", "Lord" or the "Son of Man" (and lacks any mention of the miracles attributed to Jesus in the other gospels) it is perhaps not surprising that it never made it into later versions of the Bible.

September 11, 2001

September 11, 2001, God bless the USA. Never forget.

Ancient Wall

'Massive' ancient wall uncovered in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An archaeological dig in Jerusalem has turned up a 3,700-year-old wall that is the largest and oldest of its kind found in the region, experts say.

The wall is built of enormous boulders, confounding archaeologists as to how ancient peoples built it.

Standing 8 meters (26 feet) high, the wall of huge cut stones is a marvel to archaeologists.

"To build straight walls up 8 meters ... I don't know how to do it today without mechanical equipment," said the excavation's director, Ronny Reich. "I don't think that any engineer today without electrical power [could] do it."

Archaeologist Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority added, "You see all the big boulders -- all the boulders are 4 to 5 tons."

The discovered section is 24 meters (79 feet) long. "However, it is thought the fortification is much longer because it continues west beyond the part that was exposed," the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a news release.

It was found inside the City of David, an archaeological excavation site outside the Old City of East Jerusalem on a slope of the Silwan Valley.

The wall is believed to have been built by the Canaanites, an ancient pagan people who the Bible says inhabited Jerusalem and other parts of the Middle East before the advent of monotheism. Watch report on the discovery of the ancient wall »

"This is the most massive wall that has ever been uncovered in the City of David," Reich and Shukron said in a joint statement about the find. It marks the first time "that such massive construction that predates the Herodian period has been discovered in Jerusalem."

It appears to be part of a "protected, well-fortified passage that descends to the spring tower from some sort of fortress that stood at the top of the hill," according to the joint statement.

The spring "is located in the weakest and most vulnerable place in the area. The construction of a protected passage, even though it involves tremendous effort, is a solution for which there are several parallels in antiquity, albeit from periods that are later than the remains described here."

Such walls were used primarily to defend against marauding desert nomads looking to rob the city, said Reich, a professor at the University of Haifa.

"We are dealing with a gigantic fortification, from the standpoint of the structure's dimensions, the thickness of its walls and the size of the stones that were incorporated in its construction," the joint statement said.

Water from the spring is used by modern inhabitants of Jerusalem.

"The new discovery shows that the picture regarding Jerusalem's eastern defenses and the ancient water system in the Middle Bronze Age 2 is still far from clear," Reich said. "Despite the fact that so many have excavated on this hill, there is a very good chance that extremely large and well-preserved architectural elements are still hidden in it and waiting to be uncovered."

Star Wars Personality Test

Which Star Wars Jedi/Sith are you? Yoda Dynamite in a small package, and long-lasting, like the Energizer bunny. While you are wise and calm, you are able to call on your killer instincts and be kick-ass. Some may call you a ‘sleeper’. With such great power comes some arrogance, but you are quick to return to humility and fix your mistakes. You have certainly left your mark on the world, in good and bad ways, and it was kinda sad to see you go. But no need to worry, you have gained immortality even though you can’t wield your toothpick of a lightsabre anymore.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Conservatives

A friend of mine wrote this on his blog. It relates back to what I wrote some time ago about fundamentalism and speaks to the fundamentalist beliefs of people from different backgrounds than you usually consider to be fundamentalists.

What follows is from Tim Bryce:

Following the release of one of my more politically inclined columns, I was accused by a reader of being an ultra conservative. The reader based his comments on established stereotypes of conservatives which I personally find distasteful. Such images have become rather old and tiresome, but were still effective in last year's elections. These stereotypes were concocted by the Media over time and inevitably raise their ugly heads during election time. What concerns me though is these images are simply fallacious and aimed at misleading people away from the true issues at hand. Let me give you some prime examples of conservative stereotypes:

CONSERVATIVES ARE PRO-BUSINESS, EVEN AT THE EXPENSE OF SQUASHING ANYTHING THAT GETS IN THEIR WAY, INCLUDING THE LITTLE GUY.
I think it is no secret that conservatives believe in the free enterprise system, the land of opportunity, and an honest day's wage for an honest day's work, but I do not believe they are as ruthless as they are portrayed. They are unapologetic capitalists who want less government control, not more. Conservatives tend to see government as the servant of the people, not the other way around. This drives anybody opposed to this way of thinking absolutely crazy, particularly socialists and communists. It's no small wonder that capitalists are portrayed as "fat-cats" who profit off the worker.

The reality is that you will find just as many liberals in the board room as you will find conservatives. Further, anyone who has faced the realities and risks of starting up his/her own company, particularly a small business, is somewhat inclined to appreciate capitalist principles.

CONSERVATIVES DO NOT SHARE AND WANT TO CREATE A MASTER/SLAVE CLASS SOCIETY.
This is just plain bunk. First, greed knows no political ideologue. Second, we're back to the capitalist argument whereby conservatives appreciate hard work and reward accordingly. Look, it's simple, you cannot do everything yourself; you have to delegate, empower, and support your people, which includes compensating them accordingly. It's just plain smart business. And third, conservatives give generously of themselves for a wide variety of causes. Although they balk at turning their wallets completely over to the government, conservatives gladly lend a helping hand to those who truly need it. Liberals certainly do not hold a monopoly on charitable causes.

CONSERVATIVES ARE ANTI-ENVIRONMENT.
It is generally believed that if you are a conservative, you have a fundamental disregard for the planet; that you want to rape the Earth and eradicate its resources. My question is, "Why?" This would imply that conservatives are like some visitors from outer space here to plunder the earth's resources and leave a dead shell. I'm afraid I haven't seen the conservative flying saucer yet, and I think we are all stuck on this planet together. In fact, conservatives have found such things as conservation, recycling, and land reclamation are not just good ideas, it's smart business.

CONSERVATIVES ARE ULTRA RELIGIOUS.
Show me a fanatical Bible thumper and I'll show you a conservative; Right? Wrong. I can't begin to tell you how many liberals I have met through organized religion. We often hear of the "Religious Right" which primarily consists of Christian groups, but I don't recall where it is written that a belief in Jesus Christ is a prerequisite for becoming a conservative. In fact, I've met conservatives from just about every religious faith imaginable. I will grant that conservatives tend to derive their core values from their religious beliefs, whatever they may be, but they are certainly not religious fanatics.

There is an interesting dichotomy here: whereas conservatives are accused of unethical behavior in business and the environment, they are also portrayed as religious zealots. I guess the assumption here is that organized religion doesn't promote ethical behavior.

CONSERVATIVES ARE UNEDUCATED, UNIMAGINATIVE, AND ONLY FOLLOW PARTY LINES.
There is a general belief that conservatives are incapable of intelligent discourse, are crude and lack creativity, and thereby must be told what to do. Gee, it kind of sounds like the goons in the Nazi Party under Adolph Hitler doesn't it?

The notion that conservatives are old-fashioned fuddy-duddies who resist change is erroneous. I know a lot of liberals who have been unbending in their ideas since the 1960's.

Since conservatives tend to have a business perspective they are somewhat inclined to be freethinkers, meaning if it makes sense to them, they'll buy it, regardless of who sells it. They will also make it plain if they do not agree with you, and perhaps this is what bothers their opposition. In fact, I find conservatives to be more open to debate; for example, consider the popularity of conservative talk radio programs (you don't see too many liberal programs do you?)

CONSERVATIVES DO NOT HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR.
For a long time, conservatives have had to endure all kinds of jokes as communicated through political bumper stickers, cartoons, and late night comedians. In the process I think they have developed some rather thick skin and do, in fact, appreciate a good joke, although I admit their humor is not as destructive as others. But what is good for the goose should be good for the gander. Try poking fun at a liberal and you are accused of blasphemy. Now that's funny.

CONSERVATIVES ARE RACISTS.
I'm not even going to dignify this with a rebuttal.

CONCLUSION

The concept of conservative stereotypes is nothing more than brainwashing for the purpose of social engineering by the Media. Young people are taught early on that being a conservative is not "cool"...

"Did you know he is a conservative?"

"Really? He's one of them? Wow! That's lame."

Behind the facade of the conservative stereotypes is a deeply-rooted resentment to capitalism, which the conservatives embrace. Anti-capitalists want to replace the system and evenly spread the wealth regardless of how much effort a person exerts to earn it. To conservatives, capitalism is the stimulus that encourages people to become entrepreneurs; to move forward and take risks, to boldly go where no one has gone before, to evolve, and hopefully succeed.

Like I said earlier, I have been accused of being an "ultra" conservative. As an aside, a friend recently pointed out to me, how come we do not apply this adjective to liberals (an "ultra" liberal)? I guess it is another attempt to stereotype conservatives as extremists (and liberals are not?).

It has been my experience that conservatives take their fiduciary responsibilities seriously, they are not afraid to be held accountable for their actions, they want to lead a worthy and meaningful life, and possess an ethical makeup derived from their religious beliefs. If this is what an "ultra" conservative is, then I plead, "Guilty. Most guilty."

Sorry Janeane, the wiring is just fine.

"Show me a young Conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart.
Show me an old Liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains."
- Winston Churchill

If You want to read more if Mr. Bryce's material, go here:

http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Whats Wrong With Working at Wal-Mart?

In an era where we are really short on low wage jobs, I am sick and tired of everyone bitching and moaning about people working at Wal-mart. The people that work there would rather be working than unemployed. This article by Charles Platt was brought to my attention. Charles Platt is a journalist, computer programmer and author of over 40 fiction and nonfiction books and was a senior writer at Wired magazine. The following is a portion of what Mr. Platt wrote:

LIFE AT WALMART
"How did I move from being a senior writer at Wired magazine to an entry-level position in a company that is reviled by almost all living journalists?

It started when I read Nickel and Dimed, in which Atlantic contributor Barbara Ehrenreich denounces the exploitation of minimum-wage workers in America. Somehow her book didn’t ring true to me, and I wondered to what extent a preconceived agenda might have biased her reporting. Hence my application for a job at the nearest Wal-Mart.

Getting in was not easy, as more than 100 applicants were competing for fewer than 10 job openings. Still, I made it through a very clever screening quiz, then through a series of three interviews, followed by two days of training. I felt ambivalent about taking advantage of the company’s resources in this way, but I was certainly willing to do my part by working hard at the store, at least for a limited period.

The job was as dull as I expected, but I was stunned to discover how benign the workplace turned out to be. My supervisor was friendly, decent, and treated me as an equal. Wal-Mart allowed a liberal dress code. The company explained precisely what it expected from its employees, and adhered to this policy in every detail. I was unfailingly reminded to take paid rest breaks, and was also encouraged to take fully paid time, whenever I felt like it, to study topics such as job safety and customer relations via a series of well-produced interactive courses on computers in a room at the back of the store. Each successfully completed course added an increment to my hourly wage, a policy which Barbara Ehrenreich somehow forgot to mention in her book.

My standard equipment included a handheld bar-code scanner which revealed the in-store stock and nearest warehouse stock of every item on the shelves, and its profit margin. At the branch where I worked, all the lowest-level employees were allowed this information and were encouraged to make individual decisions about inventory. One of the secrets to Wal-Mart’s success is that it delegates many judgment calls to the sales-floor level, where employees know first-hand what sells, what doesn’t, and (most important) what customers are asking for.

Several of my co-workers had relocated from other areas, where they had worked at other Wal-Marts. They wanted more of the same. Everyone agreed that Wal-Mart was preferable to the local Target, where the hourly pay was lower and workers were said to be treated with less respect (an opinion which I was unable to verify). Most of all, my coworkers wanted to avoid those “mom-and-pop” stores beloved by social commentators where, I was told, employees had to deal with quixotic management policies, while lacking the opportunities for promotion that exist in a large corporation.

Of course, I was not well paid, but Wal-Mart is hardly unique in paying a low hourly rate to entry-level retail staff. The answer to this problem seems elusive to Barbara Ehrenreich, yet is obvious to any teenager who enrolls in a vocational institute. In a labor market, employees are valued partly according to their abilities. To earn a higher hourly rate, you need to acquire some relevant skills.

As for all those Wal-Mart horror stories—when I went home and checked the web sites that attack the company, I found that many of them are subsidized with union money. walmartwatch.com, for instance, is partnered with the Service Employees International Union; wakeupwalmart.com is copyright by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Why are unions so obsessed with Wal-Mart? I'm guessing that if the more-than-a-million Wal-Mart employees could be unionized, they would be compelled to contribute at least half a billion dollars per year in union dues.

Subsequently I considered writing about my brief experience, but a book defending a company that has been demonized does not have a large potential audience, and the writer tends to be dismissed as either hopelessly naive or bribed by corporate America.

Similar factors result in someone such as Adam Shepard remaining relatively obscure.

If you haven’t heard of Adam Shepard, this illustrates my point. His remarkable book Scratch Beginnings, now being promoted through www.scratchbeginnings.com, describes how he went through an experience far more gruelling than my brief flirtation with low-paying work. He placed himself in a homeless shelter with $25 in his pocket, found a job as a day laborer, then worked for a moving company, and after 10 months had a pickup truck, an apartment, and $2,500 in savings. His conclusion: People can still make it in the United States if they are willing to live carefully on a budget and work hard.

Somehow that kind of news is never as popular as denunciations of the free market written by professional handwringers such as Barbara Ehrenreich."

Is Obama a Mason?

As seems to happen every time there's a US presidential election, our site
is regularly searched to find out if the candidates are Freemasons. OK. For
the record:

John McCain is NOT a Mason. His father, Admiral John Sidney McCain,
Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet during the Vietnam War and who died
in 1981, was.

*Barack Obama is NOT a Mason.*

Hillary Clinton is NOT a Mason. Her husband (former President Bill Clinton)
was a member of a Masonic-sponsored youth organization. . . .

Ron Paul is not a Mason although his father is.

George Bush is not a Mason. His father (former President George Bush) is not
a Mason. And the Skull and Bones fraternity at Yale University has NO
connection to Freemasonry whatsoever, despite what the person with the
tin-foil hat wants you to believe!

So whatever the motive for your curiosity, the answer is - NO! OK?

Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism is one of those things that is often associated with religion. There are Christian fundamentalists, Islamic fundamentalists, Mormon fundamentalists and so on. But what has it ever occurred to you that all of these movements have something in common? Once you see that they do, you also see that fundamentalism is present in many other aspects of life as well.

Religious fundamentalism is a reaction to any part of the religion that is complex. It is often law centered and always centers itself around and issue about what you personally should think or do. For instance, the religious text says that it is a bad idea to (whatever) or a good idea to (whatever) then that is how it is. There are no exceptions. Do this believe that. Circumstances, events, and all of the things which make life complex are completely ignored.

But if fundamentalism is a reaction to complexity, then it can be found in so many other aspects of life that it begins to amaze. An example that comes to mind is the attacks of September 11, 2001. For various reasons, Islamic fundamentalists hijacked several planes and flew them into the World Trade Center (a target that had been attacked for years) the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

Th reason for these hijackings is both simple and complex. They hate us. Why is where it becomes complex. But there are those in our society that cannot bear the thought that this is true. They simply cannot believe in a world complicated enough to bring about such action, so instead they invent an alternative story.

The alternative goes something like this. The world trade center was rigged with controlled demolition by President Bush in order to bring them down and declare war on the middle east in order to get more oil. The pentagon was hit by a missile. The planes were actually empty and were flown into the buildings remotely.

Fundamentalism is present in environmental thought as well. There are no doubt problems with the environment, but the answer is complicated and involves making better technology. However the fundamentalist view is that we must move backwards with our technology. No heat, no AC, no plumbing so poop in a bucket and dump in in your yard.

I realize that I have just scratched the surface of many topics here, but I am pointing out that they all have the same reaction to complex problems and that reaction is fundamentalist thought.

Just a few thoughts on fundamentalism. I would love to hear yours.

Happy New Year!

Blessings to you all for 2008!

Snorting Sleep and other news

There are a few News stories that I find interesting today. This is serious buisness.
I will be back with the regular blog soon. Love you all and I hope you are having a safe holiday. Don't drink and drive! Wear your seat belt. Pay attention! Don't be stupid!



Snorting sleep:

In what sounds like a dream for millions of tired coffee drinkers, Darpa-funded scientists might have found a drug that will eliminate sleepiness.

A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests. The discovery's first application will probably be in treatment of the severe sleep disorder narcolepsy.

The treatment is "a totally new route for increasing arousal, and the new study shows it to be relatively benign," said Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and a co-author of the paper. "It reduces sleepiness without causing edginess."

-Wired

Test Tube Universe

A "universe in a test tube" that could be used to assess theories of everything has been created by physicists.

Time is running out - literally, say scientists" Are we missing a dimension of time? Are dark forces at work in space? The test tube, the size of a little finger, has been cooled to a fraction of a degree above the lowest possible temperature, absolute zero, which is just over 273 degrees below the freezing point of water. Does one of these test tubes hold a baby Universe? Inside the tube an isotope of helium (called helium three) forms a "superfluid", an ordered liquid where all the atoms are in the same state according to the theory that rules the subatomic domain, called quantum theory. What is remarkable is that atoms in the liquid, at temperatures within a thousandth of a degree of absolute zero, form structures that, according to the team at Lancaster University, are similar those seen in the cosmos. "In effect, we have made a universe in a test tube," says Richard Haley, who did the work with Prof George Pickett and other members of the "Ultra-low Temperature Group." The Holy Grail of physics is to establish an overarching explanation to unite all the particles and forces of the cosmos. But one of the complaints commonly levelled at a leading contender for a "theory of everything", called string theory, is that it is impossible to test.

UK Telagraph


Raw Milk Ban

(AP) -- Many raw milk consumers are opposing new dairy standards set to take effect next week in California, saying they could outlaw some of their preferred products.
The new law does not create an outright ban on raw milk, but producers believe it could dry up supplies by setting new bacteria limits they say are difficult to meet.

Mark McAfee is founder of Fresno-based Organic Pastures Dairy Company, the larger of two raw milk producers in California. He said consumers "are fed up with the government being in their kitchens, and they want to be able to make their independent choices about food they want to eat."

State officials, on the other hand, say producers should be able to meet the standards, which they maintain are necessary for consumer safety.

Merry Christmas With the Hoff

Christmas or Indigestion? The Savior is Born!

“Glory to God in the Highest Heaven, and on earth peace to people whom He favors.” This is the message of the angles that came to announce the birth of Jesus, the savior of the world, who was on Christmas night born in a barn of all places. It is a message of hope and wonder, and it makes a much better Christmas card than the message of John the Baptist, “Repent you brood of vipers!” Yes, one is a hallmark moment and the other is not.

But, in their own way, each is announcing something wondrous. Something so unexpected and so strange, that shepherds came to see if it was true. Was the Son of God, this Jesus really lying in a barn, or had the dried sheep meet they had eaten for supper gone bad, leaving them with a hallucination that was both astonishing and terrible to behold? Chances are good that they were betting on the bad dinner.

These shepherds in the field were as an unsavory lot 2000 years ago as they tend to be now. Oh, not bad guys mind you, but they did things in a very earthy way. They spoke with earthy language, using words that were not polite. They had an earthy aroma about them and they were known to drink too much and fight with knives. To me, sounds like business as usual on the range in Montana. Nevertheless, having an angle appear to you has an unsettling effect, no matter how tough you are. Assurances of, “Be not afraid,” tend to sound a bit hollow when you are seeing the glory of the Lord. Such times probably call to mind all the sins you have been committing gleefully in the last month or so… maybe even longer. But instead of the smiting with lightning, or burning with fire or something a person in such a situation might expect; (after all God is suddenly paying personal attention to you, and that cant be good right?) the news is good. A savior is born. The shepherds were blessed.

How odd indeed. Not the priests, not the city council or some other important people, but shepherds are told that God has come to earth to save us. Odder still, He is born in the barn between here and the next town over. What could you do but go find out if it was true or if it was simply dinner food digesting badly?

We all know how the story goes, the shepherds get to the barn and the whole thing turns out to be true. They are so baffled that they tell everyone that will listen what happened to them. Mary treasured the words of their story and they praised God. After all, who couldn’t?

We can be sure that none of them really had any idea what it would all mean, but one thing was for sure, God was doing something and it was something unexpected. Things were going to be different now. God was born in a barn and talking to shepherds, yes, the world was going to be in for a shock. Christ had come and right away, He was changing everything. If God favored shepherds, then things were going to be ok. Merry Christmas, for Christ has come to bless us all, and He is changing everything.

Age of the Universe

There is a discussion that I mostly try to stay out of, but seems to keep finding me. Maybe it is because of my combination of theological and scientific training.

Just how old is the universe? Those of the scientific persuasion say 4.5 billion years, give or take a billion. Those of the religious persuasion say 6,000 years, give or take a hundred.

I can defanatly say, without a doubt, that I have no damn idea.

That being said, the religious camp looks silly in this situation. 6,000 years was the end of the last ice age and the birth of human civilization for certain, so for all practical human history purposes, that was our beginning, but the universe??

When I ask about the dinosaurs, I get some kind of nonsensical response like how they were put in the earth by Satan to trick us into thinking the universe is old. OK, and once we are tricked then what? Is this plan is related to the underpants gnome plan of profiting off the theft of children's underwear.

Or sometimes I get the even stranger tale that dinosaurs were around when humans were, up until about 1,500 BC. OK, then how come the Egyptians and Babylonians and all didn't paint and carve statues etc. about dinosaurs? They made images of everything else!

4.5 Billion years? I don't know. It sounds good enough to me, at least until a better idea comes along. But I wonder why it is a problem to religion? Is your faith so weak that you cant handle the idea of God being able to live for 4.5 billion years? Are you so self centered that you demand that God follow your rules of physics? Are you pissed off that the Bible isn't a physical science and natural history text?I would personally find the ideas that physics presents to be an amazing addition to conceptions of God.

If Steven Hawking is right. Time does not exist apart from the physical mass of the universe, meaning that God created it all "right now" on God time. So I guess you could say that the universe just started from God's standpoint. Interestingly, Augustine said the same thing in his "City of God."

I think that this leads into another point that I will write about soon: The nature of fundamentalism. I am not just talking religious fundamentalism either. I have seen fundamentalism come in many shapes and sizes. But that is for another post.

Remember, I'm out there lurkin, and I'm just gettin stronger!

Prepare the Way ...

The Advent message of prepare is one that we understand far better than the message of waiting. We do so many things to prepare for Christmas that preparation for anything is something that is easily taken into our routine. However, when we hear the message of “Prepare the way of the Lord,” the mistake is made that we are to prepare by figuring out what it is that we are going to do to the said coming Lord, or perhaps what we are to do for the coming Lord. After all Jesus will need me to do something to or for him right? Wrong my friends, completely wrong.

Preparation for the coming Lord is preparing for what Jesus is going to do to you. The God in the flesh, Jesus, the coming Lord, whom John the Baptist warns us to prepare for, is coming because of what people are already doing and have done, not because of what we do for him. This truth is what we remember in Advent.

Forgiveness is coming at Christmastime and during Advent we remember that forgiveness is what we are to prepare for: being forgiven and freed from death. In Scandinavia there is a tradition on Christmas Eve that North Americans find shocking. The people go to the cemetery on Christmas eve, in the darkness because there is no sun during that part of the winter, and put eternal candles on the graves of those who they love, or if there is no one they love buried there, in the center of the cemetery. The entire cemetery is eventually lit up with the light from the candles on the tombs, graves and common area. The candles represent the presence and forgiveness of Christ to those who are present and those who are dead. It is to help them remember that the Son of God died because he did the one thing that people could not tolerate: forgave them. This Christmas practice of the Scandinavians is also a reminder that you are already forgiven for the failings in your life and humanity so death is not the final word to life.

Christmas is prepared for by being ready to accept the gift of the savior to the world, God who came in the flesh to forgive all and save them from death. Advent is a solemn time because of this remembering of the consequences of sin and of being saved: death to us, and death to our savior at the very hands of the people He came to save. But the joy of Christmas is that we know that this savior is a gift for us and that on Easter morning we learn that death no longer holds us in its clutches.

Something happens when we begin to remember what happened at Christmas. Perhaps we become angry. After all we don’t want help, forgiveness or any of that! We want to prepare to do something to or for Jesus, or our family in Jesus name. Or perhaps we want to do something for the world in Jesus name, wouldn’t that be great if we could make peace in some troubled part of the world and do it for Jesus? Or would we know in our heart that we were distracting from our own guilt? Trying to make up for what we know is not right in ourselves? Or simply being a theologian of glory instead of understanding the theology of the cross. As one of my colleagues once screamed in my face while pounding her fist on the table, “Jesus doesn’t come to this church until I bake the Christmas ham.”

Ready or not here Jesus comes. Bringing a gift that is as often unwanted today as it was 2000 years ago, forgiveness. Remember, like the Scandinavian Christmas celebration reminds us, that without this gift, death awaits as a permanent condition. Remember, and be thankful, for in remembering this, peace will be with you.

Truly Senseless

Perhaps I don't have anything to say today that makes any sense, or maybe I am just feeling perverse, but I was thinking about some commercials from a few years ago that were both amazing and terrible to behold. The first time I saw one of them I was very sick and on strong meds. I thought I was having a very messed up hallucination. If only that had been the case...
Enjoy!




And another!

Advent Articles

Some years ago, I ran a series of articles for a newspaper during advent. I am going to do that on my blog this year. Tune in every Sunday now till Christmas to see whats up in the religion section.

Advent has rolled around again. Once again this year I am forced to endure the same tired messages and sermons that I hear every year at advent. They all go something along the lines of “We are a people waiting alone in darkness and fear…” or “Don’t rush advent, wait for the coming savior …” or my all time favorite, “Naughty, naughty, you are commercializing Christmas!”

Let’s look at the facts. No one is waiting for anything except the next holiday sale at Sears, Target, or wherever. We only fear nothing from our shopping season and we most certainly rush-rush-rush, the same way we do for every event the rest of the year. Christmas is already so commercial that there is not one thing that anyone could do to make it more so. After all, Christmas items went on sale roughly at the time of Halloween.

So what is it that I propose that we do to change the world? Simply stated, we do nothing. The world is much the same now as it was over 2,000 years ago. People are coming and going, so absorbed in their own things that they cared practically nothing for what was happening in the lives of others. The government was doing something stupid that was making the lives of its citizens difficult. Poor people were doing their best to survive while those with money lived extravagantly. This is the world now and this is the same world that the Savior was born into.

What then is left? Remember. Remember the state of this world, then and now. Remember that this world needed a savior so badly that God sent one into the mess with nowhere to be born in a world that barely noticed. Born in a barn with ox and burro, to animals who are notorious for relieving themselves when and wherever they see fit. Slobbering all over their trough, where the Son of God would be laid down after his birth.

Remembering during this time of year that the Son of God was born in a barn; born to die, in order that a world of people who care more about the next sale at the mall than the spirit of the season. Remember that the Son of God died because he did the one thing that people could not tolerate: forgave them. Remember that you are already forgiven for the failings in your life and humanity. Remember, and be thankful, for in remembering this, peace will be with you.

Quote for Today

I have always liked this quote:

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study
mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and
philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture,
navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children
a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary,
tapestry, and porcelain," John Adams.