Sunday, thinking of being in the boat in a storm

Listening to Brian our minister speak of today’s reading, he speaks of the challenge of the storm, we today, are surrounded by a storm set alight by division, fear and the confusion of what next.

Brian speaks of the love within. That love that rests inside each of us. He spoke if how we are turning away from religion.

This led me to ponder the demise of the gentle spirit Jesus tried to instill and restore in each of us. This thought often takes my heart to remembering how Jesus condensed the ten commandments down to two.

“The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

We have lost sight of this need to respect each other. We are torn apart by our differences. We are intolerant and believe we know better. We are divided as to our fiscal and social responsibilities.

The Lords and Masters who stand over us, insight dissension, foster racial attitudes, lie, and corrupt. Comedians, newscasters, authors and pundits make fun of the situation we are in.

Yet the sting of reality persists.

life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

When I received this video

I wondered if prudish Americans would appreciate the continental humor.

For me and now I speak from my heart, mind and soul. I remember well going to Jones Beach with two special ladies. They made it clear they would bath as they wished and I needed to accept and not be some leering male. I then remember traveling to Paris and seeing beautiful people adorning those typical French round advertising pillars. The French simply use the beauty of the human body to promote perfume or some other sensual thing. After I moved to Europe and we venturing, children in hand, to the beaches of Holland, France, Spain and Italy we learned to simply accept. Even more telling, I attended an ITUG conference at a 5 star hotel in Budapest and ventured down to the spa.

I wonder why Americans are bound up in a moral turpitude.

We are either far to the right or fair to the left.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was interviewed today and argued our country must come back to the center. Morality is key to why we are so far apart. So many on the right so many on the left. Little room to find accommodation in the middle.

We purport to be a country of law, a country of freedom and a country of choice. Yet we are tangled up in imposing rules to govern choice. I read of how in Virginia back in the 30’s they attempted to ban interracial marriage and discovered that most of the population had some of Pocahontas in them. I then think about those that are marching today. They argue that the friends who died, are more important than the rights of those who want to let anyone bear arms. Yet that small minority, the NRA, seems to have control over the decisions of the peoples’ representatives. If we believe we can ban the mixing of races, yet we are unable, as the majority, to ban the type of arms, weapons, people are allowed to own, what are we!

Arnold today spoke of education, health and the environment.

If we want to Make America Great Again then why do we allow our system of education to stigmatize people based on where they live. Why do we not assure each citizen the right to equal education. He reminded the audience this country ranks 39^th in the world. He said that regulating diversity was ridiculous. He argued that by offering equal education, we enable people equal opportunity. His argument made perfect sense. Using local property taxes to fund education, ultimately means where you live, hence your family income, defines who has opportunity to excel. If we want to remain the greatest country in the world and assure all citizens equal opportunity, then, we must invest in education.

Bottom line Education is the key to Making America Great Again.

Health, there are 4 living doctors in my family. Through my kinship to them, I have heard and listened to them speak of the issues with our system. For my simple mind the problem begins with Capitalism. It is all about big corporations wanting to profit from their skills. It is about insurance companies wanting to minimize risk (expense) by minimizing the amount of care they have to pay for. I am familiar with social medicine. Three countries provided me personally with exposure to how it can and does work.

Yes, if you can afford care in this country, you will get the best care.

The challenge, every American cannot afford care, without insurance. And, if everyone is not insured then those that are the least wealthy and healthy are without. For me this graph tells the whole store.

I am personally paying insurance under a Cobra plan. For Selma and I, one household, it costs 1,291.43 a month $15,520.92 a year.

We all need universal care. We need to require everyone to pay into our health system. This is the only way will we assure affordable care for all. How does one build such a system, I suggest, it must resemble what Switzerland has built.

Minimum care paid through taxes. Supplemental care, each households responsibility.

Next is our environment. Once, we worried about pollution and the quality of our air and water. Now, we must expand our thinking. We must remember we are stewards of this earth and realize our consumption of the earth’s resources will affect the balance of the earth and its ecosystem. We are here to protect the earth for our children and for the children they will bring into this world.

We can argue all night long about the science. What we do know is that if we change the balance of anything there is a result. The classic appreciation of cause and effect. We the USA, with less than 20% of the word population, recently were responsible for most of the carbon dioxide injected into the atmosphere. Today this no longer is true. But, we recently pulled away from helping to lead the world to a better place. Instead our President wants us to return our sources of energy back to those non renewable earthly resources, coal and oil. We all know they pollute!

Finding reusable means of generating energy, is good politics. The Economist March 17^th 2018 had an excellent special report on the politics of energy.

If we do not embrace renewable sources of energy and reduce our dependence on Oil and Coal, we will no longer be the great national we are and seek to remain.

As I write, I am remember learning about the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As the first sentence so aptly says it

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing everything – from the way we relate to each other, to the way our economies work, to what it means to be human”.

We must properly harness technology.

Education is the key.
Our environment can only benefit.
Healthcare will simply become more efficient

In the end we will improve everyone’s life.

Yet?

As Adam Smith best explains, our global economy (yes we are a global economy), can only be successful when we view it as a closed system.

We must appreciate that we are all part of the whole. Only when we each give to our own abilities, will we find balance. If we allow labor arbitrage to take jobs away; then, those who lose their jobs must find new ways to contribute. They cannot expect the system to sustain them!

Yet they should expect those that profit to help re-educate.

Why am I writing. What am I asking.

Maybe to share. Maybe to speak out.

There is one other topic on my mind. Those who understand the loss of a friend in Parkland are speaking out, they are marching in Washington and around the country to get people to listen and vote to arrest the stupidity of how the second amendment is being mis-interpreted.

For me the key is found in the first part of that amendment

“ A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,

In my opinion, what resulted from District of Columbia v Heller (2008) was an unreasonable interpretation of the second amendment. I would suggest United States V. Cruikshank (1876) and United States v Miller (1939) are a better interpretations. Those interpretations, in my opinion, are not influenced by the political influence of the NRA and gun manufactures’. Their and the NRA’s focus is to market, sell and protect their right to profit! They are not focused on assuring the free state has a well regulated militia. If they were, they would insist on training, education and the formation of groups – in other words militias.

The second phrase

“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

For me, this is why Switzerland ends up with guns in every home. The people are members of the armed forces. They are “The Militia”. They belong to a “well regulated” group of people focused on “the security of a free state”. They are trained. They understand the purpose of these weapons. The militia, in other words the people, can determine if there are mental issues and exclude those individuals as they are evaluated and introduced to their responsibility as a member of the militia of the people.

Looking back on the histogram above many of you are or will be part of the upper 10%. We are the ones most gifted. We therefore must be the ones that are the most interested in making this world is a better place. Simply accepting the way it is, means we are not working together to make the world, this country, a better and more equal place.

Going back to the video we must assure our freedoms. We must focus not on how we expect people to live. We must remember why we became a nation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”

Our founders made it clear, we each have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The way I interpret what we attempted, as a nation, to establish; is a body of people, a society, that respects each of our individual rights and seeks to protect each individuals right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If I want to expose myself in the comfort of a community that enjoys this way of life, as long as we do not imping on your rights, why not? Slavery, Blue laws, various interpretations based on the desire to impose your will on me is not why we declared independence. It is not what our constitution attempted to create.

I want clean air, clean water, not to see your litter in public view and be able to drink alcohol and/or smoke marijuana. I want the ability to see a doctor when I need to and not worry that I cannot afford to. I want to be able to to see all children attend school, knowing they will get a great education. I also do not want to worry that some lunatic will buy assault rifles and use these weapons reserved for a well regulated militia to kill children while they are at school. I want to be able to attend a music festival and not worry that some person up in some hotel room is capable of buying an arsenal simply to kill people.

Yes we should have the right to hunt and protect ourselves. Assuming we are trained and capable and more importantly are of stable mind and body.

We must each remember the ten commandments Exodus 20 or simply put the two found in Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:29-34 and Luke 10:25-37

Most importantly we must read, appreciate and be the Samaritan described in Luke 12:30-37.

Each of us is bestowed with skills and abilities. We have the funds to be able to help drive policy we have the responsibility to assure each is given the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

These are my beliefs.

I hope those reading my thoughts are willing to respect them and share theirs. Only if we engage in discourse can we assure ourselves life, liberty and the ability to pursue happiness.

Obviously to avoid spam I do moderate comments. As long as there is no profanity, I will not censor anyone’s comments. I am also posting the existence of this Blog on Twitter and Facebook. In those environments and as Cambridge Analytica has demonstrated, these thoughts will simply expand the public’s awareness of my habits, patterns and thinking.

Respectfully,

Financial Trade Groups Write to House Leaders in Support of Data Breach Notification Bill

https://bankingjournal.aba.com/2018/02/financial-trade-groups-write-to-house-leaders-in-support-of-data-breach-notification-bill/

February 28, 2018

The American Bankers Association and six other financial trade organizations wrote to House leaders today underscoring the need for businesses across all industries to be held to the same data protection and breach notification standards currently adhered to by regulated financial institutions.

The associations expressed support for draft legislation released by Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) that would create a level playing field of nationally consistent data protection standards and post-breach notification requirements. This bill would not create duplicative standards for financial institutions which are already subject to robust standards, but rather extend similar expectations to other sectors that handle consumer data.

“The goal of the bill is simple — raise the bar so that all companies protect data similar to how banks and credit unions protect their data, and create a common-sense standard to ensure consumers receive timely notice when a breach does occur,” the groups wrote.

The draft bill contains a provision that recognizes the existing, effective regulatory framework for covered financial sector entities. While the provision was intended to prevent banks and credit unions from being subject to duplicative notification requirements, it has been the target of recent negative campaigns circulated by the National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association, which incorrectly suggested that banks do not notify customers of breaches on their computer systems and The ads from the retailer groups also mischaracterize and exaggerate the share of data breaches occurring at banks and credit unions while omitting their members’ (higher) share of data breaches.

The financial trades refuted the notification assertion, noting that “banks and credit unions have long been subject to rigorous data protection and breach notification practices for financial institutions to follow,” and that in the event of a data breach, banks and credit unions work continuously to communicate with customers, reissue cards and enact measures to mitigate the effects of fraud. They added, however, that “no solution will work unless everyone has an obligation to take these steps.” For more information, contact ABA’s Jess Sharp.

What scares me most

Tonight while preparing to listen to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra play a bit of Beethoven I have a moment to reflect on the Worldview.

Once upon a time one could turn on the news and get a glimpse of what is happening at home and round the world. One could pick up a newspaper and think this will provide me a glimpse of the truth.

Then! In emerged the capabilities of communications and the capacity to write and distribute anything to a vast number of individuals. Otherwise called the Internet.

Yet, what is different? In the past books were burned, history was rewritten and lies were told. The challenge,today we can manipulate what people believe, on a global scale, in realtime. We can spread disinformation and drive the masses to believe anything people with a voice and the power to thrill want to convince them to believe.

Starting in 2016 who would become the American President proved this to be possible. The media demonstrated that they can spin the truth in whatever direction they so desire.

This week the story is about how the DOJ and the FBI obtained warrants from one of the strictest courts in the land. Every 90 days bringing new information, they convinced the FISA court to allow them to continue to investigate the potential actions of our enemy, Russia, or, what was the USSR. What the Russians did was evil and manipulative. I somehow doubt the GOP’s version of the trutb.

Vindicated! Donald thinks he is. Yet, for those who take the minutes to read, one can only wonder what does this incomplete review of the facts actually prove? Nothing!

I wonder why I waste so much of my time listening, reading and worrying. Is there truly a risk? Are we so divided that it matters. Maybe!

Part of the challenge, many think President Trump is doing good. They accept his narcissistic personality and read his tweets with a simply, oh please stop. The rest of us cringe and worry. We consider the risks. We watch our leaders splinter and the divide expand, and we hope for a better day tomorrow.

Fir thise that seek out the truth, we explore and we become aware of the elements that are driving us into the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It causes us to wonder what can we do to bring the masses, those unskilled workers, who have been marginalized by intelligent robots, programmers, engineers and managers out of desolate. We work to reduce the numbers of workers and expand productivity all while ignoring the realities of the human repercussion ahead.

When I started this note, the thinking was about those who do not accept science, believe the world is flat and maybe 9,000 years old. They do not accept, we human kind, are responsible for the wrath of our planet’s climate. They do not appreciate the dangers ahead, as we change the balance of our atmosphere and pollute the lands and oceans that sustain us.

What next?

Trumpe Park – A Movie Line

Remove Volatility

Today I was confronted with volatility. In a two week period gas prices had gone from 2.395 to 26795, quite a climb of less than 14 days.

Volatility, this is what we must remove from peoples lives. Stability and comfort are what is important. Having gameful activity to allows us to contribute to the whole. Being idle is unproductive and only benefits the traders who prey on short term activity to enjoy profits from volatility.

Our President must accept that the Wall Street lobby must be squelched for a while as volatility is banded from the marketplace. This will take an acceptance on the part of the wealthy that they cannot take it beyond the grave and before that excessive income is not acceptable to the healthy grow of civilization.

Set a maximum salary of say 2 million.

Foreign exchange markets are another area of concern. Volatility based on war and famine must the mitigated out of the civilization.

Our civilization is global and provisional limitations such as food subsidies need to be removed.

Remember they are simply subsidies paid by the tax payer. Government should be limited to a percent of the population; remembering its role is to only assure the the primitive functions of justice, liberty, freedom and security.

Regulation is something that must be removed and a new form of peer review established with responsibility to maintain quality, service, stewardship for the planet, and a judicious use of nature resources. Free enterprise is encouraged by remembering that it is the relationship between the customer and proffer that ultimately decides success.

An interesting story as we think about health care

I met a man with a deep understanding of the Red Words, who told me a little of his life and how he spent $180,000 resolving medical issues associated with a stoke. Little was done, given the amount spent and the available technology and medical sciences.

Today, he believes, based on sound medical opinion, that exercise, surgery or medication could eliminate the de-habilitating impact on his sight, mobility and hearing.

After spending his life, saving, my friend lives comfortably in a 250 square foot home with nothing but the bible and his spirit.

Where is the VA for a VIET NAM vet; there were provisions made under Nixon for long-term medical care?

What should a more balanced system do to afford my friend a comfortable retirement?

today on CNN – What about this idea

http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/05/unemployment-what%e2%80%99s-to-blame/

Unemployment: What’s to Blame?

Posted: 08:44 AM ET

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan predicts U.S. unemployment could hit 10%. Currently the nation’s unemployment rate is at 9.8%.

So, what do you think is most responsible from the worsening employment picture: a failed stimulus package, an economy much worse than we knew, employers cutting deeper and hiring more slowly than expected, or something else all together.

Leave us a comment. We’ll share some of them on air in the CNN Newsroom, 11am ET — 1pm ET

So there we are. A picture and a set of points on why we are where we are with unemployment. Now what about this idea.

First, there is an issue of Greed. A small percentage of the global population has accumulated a massive amount of wealth. I am not here to judge the right or wrong of how they or their ancestors acquired the wealth. I am here to suggest looking forward.

100 million dollars a year as a salary to hedge the price of gasoline and contribute to raising the profits and consumer costs associated with oil.
$17.2 million to successful sell Visa inc, to the market, earning bankers a significant return.
Numerous excesses that programs like Nip/Tuck mimic for Wall Street millionaires.
A stock market that has a curve that simply should not have been allowed. Long term prudent economic management is essential.

Ponder this. If equities is suppose to represent the inherent stability of the corporations that employ our neighbors; what happened starting in 2000 and culminating in the bear Stearns collapse in 2007. Is Wall Street unravelling the growth that began in 1982 and went into a hyperactive phase in 1995, and simply correcting itself.

What next should represent a step change in how we think about governance, compensation, risk, responsibility and morality.

What I think a lot of us forget is that our society evolved over millennium and here we are thinking we are so important. What is important, is being faithful to a common morality, and making sure that we leave something better for our children.

I agree with the Dali Lama, all we want is peace and happiness.

So what next?

Cap salaries for the rich at 2 million per year.
Institute a managed health system that still uses the concept of insurance and hedging risk to fund our healthcare system.
Introduce a health management system, with a basement for those that cannot afford even the most basic plan.
Re-introduce exercise in the school system and subsidize community gyms and recreational facilities.
Re-introduce the luxury tax for non essentials over $30,000 and on things that are not good for you or are excessive. Say anything not associated with your food, transportation and housing.
Focus on better educating the family practitioners, gynecologists, internist and pediatricians so that they do a much better triage and assessment of appropriate care given available resources with fear of reprisal for taking risks. If necessary, require an additional year of service at a teaching hospital earning a reasonable income say $120,000.
Do a lot of what Congress is already talking about
1. Strengthen the VA hospital and medical care system
2. Do not mess with Medicare or Medicaid, until the new system is in place. Let the people move to the free market approach.
3. Do not create a Government run insurance system. Yes to creating a open market, knock down state borders and promote re-introduction of the original Blue Cross Blue Shield concept of a co-operative not for profit solution
Focus on regulating the quality of care with a no one left behind principle.
Keep the insurance companies out of setting fees. Manage thje cost of the healthcare system by focusing on competition. The patient is the client and is to be saught after without offensive advertising.
Mandate a National Id card keying off the social insurance number. Combine it on the Drivers license, as a day one requirement.
Focus as a corporate priority on employment being the key indicator of success. Begin discussions on Right to Work legislation and stimulating more humane approach to managing down costs in a period of economic recession. Reduce executive wages well before the first person can be let go, without cause.
Merge all the work in the fields of governance, risk and regulation into a replacement bill.
I could go on.

From Nothing Something

In an apologetics I was asked to question the idea that something came from nothing.

This is what I have to believe if I am going to listen to the Atheists and ACLU.

Then I thought about Creation and Intelligent Design. Oh how much simpler it is to believe than these Macro Environmental facts that cannot be backed up with data explains it all. There is much to accept if you are going to believe out of the Big Bang and Chaos; time would produce a single cell. Then from that single cell produce the abundance of life forms that have and do exist.

255 proteins must magically appear in one place at the exact right time,

Before we can start thinking about things like DNA

The Red Words

Someone once said
Read-only his words

My adaptations of the translation used, to keep you on track to accompany a lot of cut and paste. Not for anyone’s adulation. It is my work available for me to see and refer to.

Jesus Christ

Jesus’ Red Words

Matthew Mark Luke John

Extracted from the NIV

Time passes and we must be reminded to think back to how it was

2009 September Philip lived on an island during the flood

False Prophets and False Profits

Last night, 11 September 2009, I watched hours of material on 9/11.

I saw the planes as the flaming arrow of the False Prophet.

I saw the two towers as the symbol of the moral decay of the False Profit.

Both clashed in a period of 102 minutes we will long remember.

The terrorist is acknowledged and the false prophet stands accused.

Yet the False Profit continues to bring harm to many and shame to those of us who seek to know God and the work Jesus’ expects of us.

When will the False Prophet “Profit” finally be recognized as the work of the devil?

Pondering Mother and Daughters

“Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long time in the land the LORD your God is giving you. [Exodus 20:12].

Thursday, I was in the unfortunate position to hear read the email to David. I was taken aback and wanted to defend myself. Then, the next morning, as per their Mother’s instruction, David forwarded said email to my address.

It is with a sad heart to email you on Mother’s Day to let you know that we are starting down a very scary similar path with Mom….I know that i do not have POA and that I signed papers saying I can never take her to court again so I know that I do not have much power nor do I believe I am up for it again.
The reason I am emailing you is to give a heads up to watch her accounts…I know she has the conservator, Arthur, and I am hoping we can keep him in place so that she does not spend all her money or give it away.

I asked her to go to her counselor here in Atlanta and she said she has an apt as well as with the weird one down on SSI , Dr Devazio (?).

She has started dating a creep – Gae and Dr Andreae’s (the people who live on Sea Island and said she was just eccentric and not bipolar) son named Philip. He is an unemployed international business man that lives in a Fleetwood on Lake Allatoona…not sure of much more and do not really want to know more, but I have an uneasy feeling and my gut says not such a good guy – plus he must know her finances from his parents or at least her history a little…mom does not need to fund him – I realize it is her money and am happy for her to spend it but when it is gone, I am not taking responsibility – I sound harsh but I am talking from my heart.

Not meaning to unload but want you to put whatever legal parameters in that you can and to be prepared for the drama…..

Once again, I wanted to take action!

Throughout the day the following words kept creeping to the front of my head:

“She has started dating a creep – Gae and Dr Andreae’s (the people who live on Sea Island and said she was just eccentric and not bipolar) son named Philip.”

“… I have an uneasy feeling and my gut says not such a good guy – plus he must know her finances from his parents or at least her history a little…mom does not need to fund him …”

Each time these words come into my mind my first reaction is spring to attack. Clearly the author has no idea who their Mother is. They do not have enough trust or respect to believe she knows what she is doing.

Furthermore my father is a very successful Doctor. The author is unaware that he is renowned for his diagnostic abilities. If he as a physician believes someone is eccentric and not bipolar, then, why would a lay person consider impugning the integrity of his assessment?

Through all of this, two teaching brought me back down to earth:

“Suppose someone hits you on your right cheek. Turn your other cheek to him also.”

“How can you say to your friend, ‘Let me take the bit of sawdust out of your eye’? How can you say this while there is a piece of wood in your own eye?”

Finally, one last teaching reminded me that I am not in a position to offer advice, I must remember to be humble, accept life as it comes and always remember these words:

“… You pretender! First take the piece of wood out of your own eye. Then you will be able to see clearly to take the bit of sawdust out of your friend’s eye.”

The only statement I will make on my own behalf is that I will support myself. I will care for those I love and I will always be faithful and true.

THIS IS TO BE DELETED WHEN YOUR MOTHER ASKS ME TO.

Good, Bad or indifferent. The Good has it.

Voices Reflect Rising Sense of Racial Optimism

Kristen Luce for The New York Times

Shel Harris of Brooklyn said the election changed his attitude.

By SUSAN SAULNY Published: May 2, 2009 the New York Times

Optimism. What a powerful word, emotion and focus to help us rise from the ashes. This morning as I scan the New York Times I am encouraged. Tears come to my eyes and the possibility that President Obama may be good for this country appears like a Phoenix on the horizon.

The idea that simply because We the People took that unimaginable step and elected a Black man at this time in history, says to me that people are demonstrating, with real actions, that we are all equal, is simply fantastic.

Yet, hidden under the surface is the risk that hatred and the white underclass, those that call them supremacists and style themselves on the belief that we are better than you, are still out there. Words that ring of the worst days of Hitlers reign ferment.

Geithner – Architect of the House of Cards?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/business/27geithner.html?8au=&emc=au&pagewanted=all

Geithner, Member and Overseer of Finance Club

I am reading William D. Cohan’s book “House of Cards” and then I read this extremely long article on the Secretary of the Treasury and his culpability!!!! 🙁

As discussed in an earlier post our President says and I quote

“We cannot go back to an economy that is built on a pile of sand — on inflated home prices and maxed-out credit cards, on over leveraged banks and outdated regulations that allowed the recklessness of a few to threaten the prosperity of us all,”

One of the key-members of the executive branch of our Government was sitting in the fortress down on Wall Street, deep into discussions with everyone that mattered and is responsible for the abyss, crisis, depression that has taken the world into uncharted waters.

How can our President, that does not want to “go back to an economy built on a pile of sand, hire, support and continue to seek advice from Mr Geithner. this man was there there, saw the crisis brewing and helped to make it worse. Now we expect the leopard to change his spots and fix it. He had his chance when he was president of the NYC Federal Reserve. If the book I’m reading and this article are accurate he has had his chance and failed.

Please Mr. Obama find someone who is risk adverse, intelligent and not part of the club.

Do as you say

Today in a New York Times Article reviewing President Obama’s press conference, held Wednesday April 30th 2009, he is quoted to have said:

“We cannot go back to an economy that is built on a pile of sand — on inflated home prices and maxed-out credit cards, on over leveraged banks and outdated regulations that allowed the recklessness of a few to threaten the prosperity of us all,”

Reading these words all I can say is YES. Yet, I remain troubled. We’ve all read about the various programs our government is implementing to “fix” our economy. Too often these programs are simply a mechanism to take money from Honest Tax Payers and distribute it to those that over-leveraged themselves and where reckless. President Obama that is not what those word would suggest your policy is.

We seem to think that whatever we do the Government will bail us out.

Build on the Mississippi flood plane and when the river does what it has always done help those who built where the water has always been supreme.
Live on the cliffs in California. When the rain comes, and it will, the land will be washed out from under the foundation. Washington will come to the rescue.
Build on a fault line and when the earth shakes don’t worry too much papa will rescue you.
Run up your credit card debt, buy a home you can”t afford and daddy will punish the lender and protect the reckless.
Leverage yourself as Bear Stearns did and we will make it all better
…

Nature is and has been since God set the universe in motion. Moses in his dialogue with God learned of the beginning and in Genesis he recorded those first days of Adam’s life and how easy it would have been to follow the rules.

The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden. He put him there to work its ground and to take care of it.

The LORD God gave the man a command. He said, “You can eat the fruit of any tree that is in the garden. But you must not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you do, you can be sure that you will die.”

He gave us the chance to live in paradise for eternity. He gave us plenty. All he asked is that we work the ground, take care of it and not eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of …

I do not mean to look at original sin nor do I want to talk about how the serpent beguiled woman and man simply ate with her.

What I am concerned with is that Obama is saying all the right things. Yet, when we look to the results we see money flowing into the pockets of those that took us into the abysm. We tell credit card companies that they should reduce interest charges and not protect themselves. We simply seem to be protecting those that are reckless.

So President Obama, please do as you say,

Don’t bail out the banks and investment company, then let them skirt the rules.
Don’t fix it so people with maxed out Credit Cards can get themselves back in trouble.
Don’t help people and mortgage lenders who agreed to mortgages that could not be sustained by the home-owner.

This idea that some companies are just to big to let fail sounds smart. Yet, unless they are also made to appreciate their failings we will simply see it happen all over again.

They personally must feel the pain not simply do as Merrill, AIG and all the CEOs want to and do do, get a government hand out and still get the big bonus. They need to be held accountable and made to put their money where their mistakes are.

It is one thing to allow them protection under the law it is another to marry them

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/us/28marriage.html?th&emc=th

A Quiet Day in Iowa as Same-Sex Couples Line Up to Marry

New york Times 28 July 2009

It is one thing to offer same sex couples rights and protections under the law, call it common-law. It is another thing to allow them to Marry; which is a religiuously rooted event that should adhere to the laws God so long ago defined and have worked so well for so many years.

Same Sex couples are people and we should love them as we love our nieghbor, YET!

Is the UAW focusing on helping or simply being greedy

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/business/28auto.html?th&emc=th

G.M.’s Latest Plan Envisions a Much Smaller Automaker

By BILL VLASIC and NICK BUNKLEY Published: April 27, 2009 New York Times

Over the last months countless articles and news commentaries have discussed the plight of the US auto makers. Bankruptcy, restructuring and foreign buyouts are all on the table as the US Government pushes Chrysler and General Motors to fix itself or get fixed.

One item that keeps appearing and as I think back over the last years, starting when Asian auto makers built factories here in America, I am constantly amazed to see that the UAW is not part of the solution. I appreciate that their role is to protect the interests of their members. Yet they simply focus on protecting the lavish pensions (developed when Detroit was ever so profitable) that these individuals are “entitled” to.

I have a profound respect for much of the work the union movement has done to protect the American worker and to assure them that they are paid a fair wage, work in reasonably safe conditions and various other initiatives that escape my mind.

What disturbs me these days is that we complain about Outsourcing and the migration of jobs to India, Malaysia, in years past Ireland and countless other countries willing to work for less than the American worker and do those jobs that are “Beneath Us”. Why we have the human resources, just look at the current rate of unemployment. When it is zero then OK let’s outsource.

As the spokesperson for American workers and hoping they are aware that we cannot practice isolationist policies and impose tariffs and taxes to protect American jobs. I worry that they are not out there working with business and the government to protect those jobs or better yet grow the n umber of jobs while still exploiting the virtues of technology and the goal to reduce the end cost to the consumer, their members.

Instead they slow down progress. They do not take the lead in driving for quality and do not help to make sure what we build or do with American hands and minds is the best that can be made or provided anywhere.

In the article, what I am once again reminded of is the fact that they insist that the “Pensions” be protected 9screw the stockholders and debit holders. i do not see them thinking about the fact that the future of our children is at risk. Jobs will continue to go to where it is less expensive to produce and where equally skilled people demonstrate a willingness to work to put food on their tables.

The unions are one of the great strengths of America. At this time of economic turmoil, where greed is at the core of our housing crisis, the introduction of high risk derivatives and a truly expensive health care system. They should be leading the workforce to understand that the American dream never was intended to guarantee anyone everything and that the American dream was built on hard-work, prudent investment and quality.

If we can return to these roots and focus on quality, hard-work and assuring the future of America for our children, then we will see an upturn in the market and a return to full employment where immigrants are seen as a positive influence and not illegals stealing American jobs.

At the same time Management is equally responsible for our plight. Sub-prime mortgages, derivatives, short sighted corporate planning and yes greed leads them also to be UN-American. They are to focused on the next analyst briefing and their quarterly results and make sure they could sell more for less. So they purchase materials produced by non Americans. They do not insist on an equitable balance between pay, quality and work. Then to make matters worse they insist that they are paid millions of dollars, the Government then bail them out when they make stupid decisions; for what?

We are all in this together and although we know that communism and socialism does not work. Capitalism only works when we do right by everyone and devise a fair distribution of wealth: based on ability, hard work and ingenuity.

In God We Trust

More Atheists Shout It From the Rooftops

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN Published: April 26, 2009 New York Times

Not often am I driven to comment on other people opinions, especially when it has to do with Religion. Yes, I am happy to discuss my own beliefs and to shoot from the Rooftops – there is a creator and God did come down to earth in the form of a man to lead us into the light.

When the New York Times has such a headline I cannot resist wondering what these people believe and how they can be so sure that they are right and there is no God.

Once I was an agnostic. I was willing to wonder if he existed. Bottom line I was not willing to totally deny his existence.

In my quest to understand, I took the time to read the bible, read various authors discussions looking at the question from both sides of the table and eventually came to realize no matter how deep we go in exploring our Universe and how knowledgeable we become about the subatomic particles and the structure of DNA, we always seem to find that there is still more to learn and that we come to a point where when we turn the next page in our scientific exploration, there are still mysteries out there that with all of our science we cannot explain.

Chaos, so many believe that out of disorder will come order; well, when I look to the microcosm and I look out to the universe what astounds me is the beauty, the majesty and the order of it all. Only an artist could create the Star Nebula, only a composer could compose the symphony of sounds we hear deep in the words at night, only a master craftsman could form such a beautiful universe and build our planet.

What concerns me even more is that without what God taught us through Moses, who first wrote down the ten commandments; and then when Jesus condensed these down to two very simple one – love god and love your neighbor then what?. If we do not believe in God then we are also saying we do not accept that we all must live to a common set of moral standards. Anarchy would rein and the evil would overpower those that have the sense to figure out what God is said to have taught us.

Darwin wrote of evolution. Yet he did not say that all things emerged from the ooze. He simply postulated that species could evolve. With evolution as an understood reality I looked to the first chapter of Genesis and came to accept three things. First the day that is written is not our day. How could it be, the earth did not have day and night until the fourth day? The day that is described in Genesis is not our daysbut God’s day.

In a previous post I spoke to these seven days described in Genesis and found that even evolution is of Gods making. Only someone with his power could set in motion the mechanisms that would allow a bird to evolve and embrace its environment.

Finally, I accept and want everyone to have a voice. What I would also hope is that their voice is what it is. That it is the voice of a minority. Let them speal and be heard, let the majority ultimately decide. let us all remember that we are taught to love our neighbor therefore we must and will love everyone and help them to live with their beliefs in peace as long as they respect the peace.

All I suggest is that the Athiest study history, that they truly understand and listen to the greatest of scientists and are open to change. Stephen Hawkins, probably one of the greatest thinkers of our time recognized that even though he identified that “This Universe” emerged from the “Big Bang” he knew that without a creator, someone to have caused the light. that explosion of matter and energy, could not have been and without someone to establish the constants and help the dust to form planets. Without his intervention there would still be an expanding universe of dust. energy and nothingness.

When the Atheist can finally explain everything then and only then will they are able to say there is not God. Until then as long as we cannot move from that which Newton found, to those principles that Einstein understood, to the new learns that our great scientists reveal then there is only one plausible answer. Our universe, the cosmos and all that we known, don’t know and will never understand are God’s work.

Our Financial Market must embrace the spirit of Social responsibility and avoid the power of the Dark Side

Geithner, as Member and Overseer, Forged Ties to Finance Club

JO BECKER and GRETCHEN MORGENSON – The New York Times Published: April 26, 2009

Did Timothy Geithner help or assist in bringing Wall Street and the world at large to the brink of disaster? A brilliant man yet was the force of the Wall Street lobby able to easily sway the path of the New York Federal Reserve to allow risk that lead to the collapse.

Morals and a solid foundation of right, wrong and mutual satisfaction must return to the market if it is to be the leader of the world. Has the financial market been seduced by the dark side and falls fowl of the seven deadly sins (Greed, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, Lust, Wrath and Envy)? They in the end should be the machine that assures liquidity and assures the foundation of our economies ability to grow and prosper. Losing their way and focusing on their personal wants and not the needs of everyone is a disaster worth of the fallen one.

I am happy to see Wall Street and the City of London prosper as long as they remember Jesus’ two commandments and embrace them as part of the principles and goals that drive their actions.

Our Medical System should be run by doctors not corporations

Shortage of Doctors Proves Obstacle to Obama Goals

By ROBERT PEAR 27 April 2007 the New York Times

One proposal — to increase Medicare payments to general practitioners, at the expense of high-paid specialists — has touched off a lobbying fight.

I wonder if Congress should instead focus on improving the income of doctors, reduce the fear of Mal-practive and insisting on deepening their education. So that people will once again see it as a worthy profession and thus there will be enough doctors to serve our growing population, not simply here, but all over the world.

As the Grandson, son and brother of doctors, I am driven to suggest to our Congress and the people that we must consider the investment someone must make to becoming a care practitioner and realize that we must encourage people to want to dedicate the time it takes to become proficient. These dedicated individuals, unlike CEO’s and Wall Street millionaire, must excel in their studies and invest four years at university, four years at medical school and then finally before having the skills to serve us, invest an additional three to six years as a journey man (i.e. their their internship and residency). Hundreds of thousand of dollars later and so much time and study does desire a fair reward.

I also believe that we should begin to think about training our internist better, so they can be more effective and not simply pass the patient on to a specialist. they as the gatekeep should have the education and practical training so unlike today thare are able to properly diagnosis the problem we the sick are facing.

Simply look at the TV series House. his dedication and effectiveness of his team is what we need. People who truly think and only turn to specialists when they fibnally accept that the specialists skills are required. Just to put a value to House. my father a retired Park Avenue and renowned diagnostician finds this one medical program stimulates his thinking.

The other key issue that Obama and Congress must address is that medicine should be a cottage industry. Instead corporations and insurance companies now run our health care system, Hillary Clinton’s efforts, although altruistic, probably drove corporations to seek profits at the expense of the real care-takers and unltimately you and I. These new “medical?” tycoons are more worried about shareholder returns and annual bonuses than the health of the people who should be their focus and are in their care.

Is it a national health system that we need simply to “FIX” the problem. Or is it a return to a system run by doctors who are properly trained and rewarded. We should think first of investing our taxes on helping the gatekeepers (family practitioners, gynecologist and internists) to be the front line, capable of dealing with most medical issues. We should encourage their selfless commitment and drive for education and practical training so they can effectively serve, thus drive down costs by being better at what they do.

Finally thought. Risk is endemic in any system. Lawyers drive risk out of the system by pursuing law suits because someone took at risk or was just like the rest of us a made an error. The net result,t doctors have become overly cautious, dependent on too many tests and unwilling to say this is what I think is wrong and if we don’t do something (however risky) now MY patient will die.