Two Step to Destruction

Under President Obama so far the highest unemployment got was 9.6% and the Republicans called it a record high. During Regan’s eight years as president unemployment got up to 9.7% and he is heralded as a great fiscal conservative and today’s Republicans are trying to rehash a lot of his programs to help the economy (even though they didn’t work for eight years). The Democrats say they are the party that cares for social programs however they along with Obama voted into law the Congressional Budget for the last fiscal year that once again gives tax cuts to the upper 2% of Americans, while cutting a program that subsidies heating for seniors who are below the poverty line. I’m not trying to make an economic debate about if giving tax cuts to rich people stimulates the economy all I’m saying is that if we can give those taxes cuts, there has to be a way to not having our seniors freeze to death. Isn’t one of government’s responsibilities to protect those who can’t protect themselves? Both parties say one thing and then do another, then blames the other party and then they pray we fall for it.

            So everyone (myself included) is freaking out about the economy and wondering how we are going to fix it. People from both sides are throwing out ideas but here is the scary truth, there are no easy answers to the economic downfall we are facing right now. The main problem is that we have a two party system. Look what is going on in Washington D.C. right now. The House Republicans voted through a new budget for this fiscal year that essentially will destroy Medicare as we know it in about five years turning it into a voucher program. Which means people who have paid that Medicare tax every month they worked and now depend on it to get the medical care they need to survive will no longer have it. More than likely when you will have a pre-existing medical condition so good luck finding an insurance company with your voucher.  Unfortunately it gets worse when we look at the other party's response. The Democrat response to this is to just vote it down in the Senate and then campaign across the country about how bad this budget is (and it truly is) but since we have a two party system they don’t have to feel rushed about putting forth a budget of their own. Here where it gets even worse, they don’t even have to put forth the best plan they could, they just have to change a few glaring things in the Republican plan, tell the American people they aren’t going to kill Medicare and their plan gets approved.

            The Republicans and Democrats have done this for decades for political gain and the only losers in this game is the American people. Wouldn’t you love to be able to put your children through college if they got accepted and you couldn’t afford it? Well Congress is also slashing the PELL Grant program (that was in the aforementioned budget). Wouldn’t you love to know that after the BP disaster in the Gulf Coast last year that the government cracked down on the oil companies and made them be safer so that innocent people wouldn’t be killed and the environment would be protected? Well, they didn’t, they didn’t change anything and the CEO’s got bonuses for last year for their “safety record.” Way to do your job EPA.  I could go on and on but you get the point, both these parties act like they are opponents but routinely they vote together for their interests, not ours. We need a fundamental change in Washington; the two party system obviously isn’t working. If you were to look at the voting records of Congressmen over a year and took the Republican and Democrat from in front of their names, you wouldn’t be able to tell which party each individual belonged to. This is the two step to destruction we must stop. We need change indeed.

That day in...

That day in...

by Nicole Bollhalder on Friday, May 13, 2011 at 1:50pm

Thursday April 7th was the worst day I have ever experienced....The day started with light drizzle, low-laying fog over Lake Zurich and a trip - short in kilometers, but long and endless emotionally - carrying the remains of my brother.

The feeling of having him this close, but also knowing that what we carried, was not really him, knowing he is no longer what he once was, knowing he is somewhere, anywhere, but not here, knowing I never got the chance to actually say bye, knowing that we have lost a person we loved, still love and always will love, knowing my mother's bottomless sadness, knowing that life is not fair and even cruel, knowing that things have to go on, knowing the fear of eventually forgetting how he looked and spoke, knowing that with time pain does get easier....Knowing all this, even on that day, even now, I am still in disbelief and I am angry, angry that I have to feel this helpless, this weak....this lost.

Looking out the car window that day, the world had lost its color, its beauty, its taste. The rain eventually stopped, the fog cleared and the sun came through. But the pain remained...

On that day, right after the sun set, we said our 'good byes' to Roger, to one of the male figures in my life I owe my upbringing. To one of my 'musketeers'...

What is left now, on one side, is a deep and tormenting emptiness; and on the other side, a growing Olive tree, branching out and shining with life in the Swiss-Italian sunshine...

What's Really Going On?

            President Obama promised hope we could believe in. He promised transparency, a rejection of the Patriot Law that essentially stripped many civil rights from ALL Americans in order to win the war on terror. Yet we are still conducting military tribunals on people that we are not even sure are terrorists at all, in complete secrecy. Were they terrorists or just in the wrong place at the wrong time? We are being stonewalled completely as to what is going on at Gitmo, so much for change.

            On top of all this we are in the 9^th year of the Afghan War that has deteriorated into a quagmire at best. Most Afghan citizens do not know what happened on 9/11/01 so most of them have no idea why the most powerful nation in the world is invading/disrupting their lives. Whether the invasion was justified or not we have to ask ourselves if 20% of Afghanistan has no clue why we are there in the first place, can we fault them for being enraged when their sons, daughters, fathers or mothers are killed by foreigners? What exactly are we doing over there if the native people don’t know? And this is supposed to be what winning "hearts and minds" is all about? During WWII the French knew exactly why we were invading their country and they welcomed us as liberators (yes that was a dig against Rumsfeld). Is the Afghan War a debacle on purpose or by accident? I don’t know and I don't know which would be worse.

            While back in America the majority of us are struggling to pay our bills and not succumb to the weight of depression, debt and unemployment. We spend billions of dollars to warmonger yet our politicians are wringing their hands about what programs to cut that will surely leave the most helpless of our citizens defenseless and relegated to die alone and poor. Do we want to be known as the originator of the military industrial complex or a nation that honored the promise we made to our citizens decades ago? Why should we suffer so some Wall Street wife can get a bailout of millions when she is already a millionaire? Why is socialism for the rich accepted but socialism for the middle class and poor characterized as hand-outs?

            Where is the action for the American poor? Madison, WI showed up, so did others but when are we going to say to our politicians, “We know you are lying to us you only want what is best for your corporate bosses and we will have no more of it?!” Who wants some action! The arts (music, movies, literature) that usually lead to social change (RIP Langston Hughes) have been co-opted and bought by the very same corporations that are economically enslaving us. Few artists escape this trap and speak the truth and give us hope.

            The legal system has a hard on for convicting and destroying peoples lives for profit, not justice. A casual study of our legal system will prove this is true. Overpaid jesters/celebrities distract us from the fact that the wealthty want more wealth and want us to struggle with less. The pundits are mouthpieces to make us focus on tertiary non-sense instead of what matters. Our differences in this country are not racial or gender based they are socio-economic, if you are a have you are down with the haves, if you are a have-not you are shunned to only to socialize and be forgotten with the rest of the have-nots. We all sit by and let banks, oil barons, etc. take advantage of maids, teachers and other hard working Americans for profit and what do we say? That’s the free market. The free market is bankrupting this country. Democrats and Republicans know this and benefit greatly from it, that’s why they staunchly defend it. Ask yourself; if 2% of Americans own 60% of the wealth how does that benefit the rest of us? The natural human compulsion of greed compels us to want more, we have an economic system that feeds this need and right now greed is consuming compassion, that is what is happening now. Turn off the news and research yourself; we are not near an economic collapse in this country. The wealthy just want more and they don’t want to give up more, they want us to. Who’s ready for some action?!

MLK had a dream, not a reality

MLK had a dream, not a reality

“when you have your health you have everything”

but when you lack the means

to bring this to fruition…

what bitter tears you drown

in.

Martin had a dream, not a reality

HMO’s, inequality of health care and $500 tylenol pills

boldly testify to this



“To love and be loved is the only way we can move forward.”

The State of Marriage In America

What’s one privilege that murderers, rapists, pedophiles and corrupt bankers have that gays don’t have? That’s right, the right to get married. We say to the worst of society you may partake of this sacred institution but those who love someone of the same sex, you can’t. Is that the message we want to be sending to our children, the world?

            Marriage is one part religious and one part socio-political. When people in Washington D.C. and around the country discuss the topic of gay marriage they combine the two. Yes the Bible says homosexuality is wrong but that is a whole different story. In this country of ours we are governed by the Constitution and State Laws, not the Bible. The Marriage Act of 1967 states, “Congress shall not make any law that prevents two people from getting married.” There is no gender specific language in it just like there is none in the Constitution it says We the People, not we the people unless you have a different sexual orientation.

The socio-political part of gay marriage is that by outlawing it we are preventing same sex couples from having over 100 privileges that heterosexual couples enjoy. One should right is the ability to be around and or be their spouse’s medical attendant. By law your next of kin is the person who will make the decision, god-forbid if you are in a medical state where you are unconscious or medically unable to make medical decisions yourself. How would you feel if the person you loved the most was dying and you didn’t have a say in what their treatment should be or even be in the same room for that matter? It is absolutely cruel what we are doing to same sex couples. If religious leaders will not marry a same-sex couple that is fine, that is their right as Americans. But the State is not bound by any religion.

 Our Constitution and laws stress the point of equality and fairness. How is it fair that the person who kills someone’s child gets to enjoy the sanctity of marriage but a gay couple who has broken no law is not allowed to? Homosexuality is not a crime in this country the last time I checked. Let’s separate the religious component form the socio-political component to see that by not allowing gays to marry we are discriminating against a group of people who have broken no law. “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and all women are created equal.” There’s no caveat there America. Let’s wake up.

“To love and be loved is the only way we can move forward.”

God and Wealth

Deut. 8:18 - But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

            If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. I’m sure we all have heard that cliché more than once, from friends, family or ever strangers. Although it is a simple phrase I think it can help us clear up a common misconception that has slipped into the psyche of Christians and The Church. The misconception I am talking about is how God distributes wealth to people. I think it’s pretty safe to say that in recent years a large bulk of Christians here in America have been overly concerned about how to become rich (which in and of itself is no sin). On Christian television and radio programs we hear sermons and opinions on how following the x, y, or z principle God will give you more wealth than we can handle. We see Christian authors selling books on how to become millionaires to their fellow brothers and sisters. We also see non-Christians such as Donald Trump in Christian venues also selling us “divine” insights to unlocking the key to wealth. Regrettably we see preachers and other religious leaders twisting scriptures, turning God into some big slot machine. Let me take a moment to say that there is nothing wrong with obtaining wealth as long as you are a good steward with it (1 Cor. 4:12). Moreover if you are a faithful follower of Christ and adhere to His precepts, especially the ones concerning money most likely you will be financially secure, but you should not be obeying Him just to gain money, because with God intention is everything.

            Some people believe that when the Lord promises something to someone in the Bible, that without exception that applies to every person on Earth. While some Christians know this to be false (acknowledging that in order to be privy to God’s promises you must first be a believer) they still keep the lie alive by believing that just because someone attends church, goes to seminary, or claims to be a Christian, etc., they are given access to the promises of the Lord. Outward obedience does not make you a disciple of Christ, inward and outward obedience does; Deuteronomy 8:11-18 shows this perfectly. Often times when I hear Deuteronomy 8:18 quoted I hear it by itself. Most of the time the verses that proceed it conveniently are left out (giving it no context) transforming it into one of those, “if it sounds too good to be true” Scriptures. Make no mistake about it verse 18 does assure us that Jehovah has the power to give wealth but who is He assuring of this in this verse? If we look at verses 11-17 we will see the answer to this. Moses is the one speaking these words and he is talking to the Hebrew people after they were led out of slavery in Egypt. They had already crossed over the Red Sea, made their way through 40 years in the desert, now they are about to enter the promised land of Canaan. Moses is reminding the people where they came from and who brought them there. Verses 11-17 reminds them of all of this to let them know that all the blessings and riches God is about to shower upon them is not because of their hands, it is not because they are just so special, it is not because they are so clever, no He is about to bless them because they have suffered but yet they remained with Him. They were not just outward followers; they were inward followers as well. Those decided to return to Egypt when the going got tough did not receive this promise. This promise to give us wealth is a weighty one that is preceded by staunch obedience on our behalf. Also notice that it does not say that if you do x, y and z you will receive wealth; instead it says remember what the Lord your God has done for you hold fast to Him knowing that He is the giver of wealth, that He will prosper you.

            Shouldn’t this be enough for us? Can’t we, like the ancient Hebrew people look back upon our lives and see countless blessings God has already given us, can’t we see numerous desert experiences that He has brought us out of, and can’t we be assured of His provision because of the bread we eat today. Can’t that be enough? Let’s be at peace knowing that great Giver of wealth loves us and will never forsake us.