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How would Jesus vote?

Apparently, Jesus would vote for Obama.

I don't know why. But he does.

Perhaps we are all wrong about him, and he is going to lead the country to greatness. I hope this is the case. I will pray for that.

Most likely Obama will lead the country into some pretty ugly places (Most presidents do, the ones we trust, and the ones we dont) and we will learn from those mistakes and be a better country for it. Most of the time, God disciplines us by letting us have what we want, then we see just how hollow and worthless our misplaced faith was.

One thing we can trust - God is still in control. He has a plan. The next 4 years may be trying, (or not) but we need not fear. The true believer thrives under adversity.

Rich don't pay taxes - Pt 2

A great article explaining what I was talking about in my last post :
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121124460502305693.html

Nobody gets it. Rich do not pay taxes.

If somebody is in an upper income bracket, Chances are good that they got there because they have capital, and operate a means of production.

They operate that business in order to gain a certain reward. If they cannot get an acceptable reward, they do not take the risks...

When you create a product, you price the product in a manner that will create the acceptable level of reward..

The acceptable level of reward takes into account the Tax burden. So the Tax burden is going to be priced into the product.

So the rich do not pay taxes. The consumers do. If the product cannot compete with the tax burden included, Americans buy cheap Chinese knock offs..

Taxes have always returned 19.5% of GDP. The top marginal rates have been as high as 91% and as low as 28% The portion of the GDP that has wound up in federal coffers has varied very, very little.

Raising taxes just pushes our money to producers overseas who have a lower tax burden. (or where the Government owns the means of Production)

Raising the Taxes on the rich might sound good, but it just aint going to happen. The rich got rich by being good business people and not investing in businesses that did not return and acceptable reward for the level of risk.

half Empty or half Full?

half Empty or half Full?
Originally uploaded by rAmmoRRison

SNT - Acts 4

I taught Acts 4 yesterday. I was pretty satisfied with how it went.. It remains very humbling to hear my own audio.

So far this year, we have taught all of the book of John, and the first 4 chapters of acts... -
liferoads-snt.blogspot.com

Why I love Children Desiring God

For the last year or so, we have been using the Children Desiring God Curriculum at our church. At first glance, the curriculum isn't really a perfect fit for us, it seems a bit stodgy, and not terribly playful for a church born out of the Willow Creek model.

The kids are changing though. They get it.

In reflecting on it, I recognize that the CDG curriculum doesn't candy coat anything. Nearly every week, it acknowledges that there are many times that our life is going to be very very hard, but God promises to strengthen us as we persevere through the hardships.. Probably 50 or 60 % of the kids are from broken homes. Many of the neighborhood kids are relatively poor. Several of them are in foster family situations.

So when we tell the kids that life is going to be hard, it resonates with them.. They know that to be true. And the promise that God will be good, even when life seems bad makes a big difference to them. Life may be good, and life may be bad, but God will always be God, and whatever He puts us through will always be used for His glorious purpose in the end.

We are just finishing up the "Faithful to all his promises" series, and we are about to embark on the "How Majestic is Your Name" series.

Biden

Joe Biden was quite a hit last night:

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed," Biden told Couric. "He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'"

Not only was Roosevelt not the president, but TV broadcasts had not been implemented at that time.

I think the reason the Democrats have lost the last few elections is that they have a snobby tone in their voices. They believe that they know better than the rest of America, and rather than explain why, they would prefer to dismiss us as stupid and irrational (Clinging to God and Guns)

The only thing worse than the failed strategy of the last two elections would be continuing to use the condescending tone, while proving yourself to be a genuine idiot at the same time. Kudos, Biden, you managed to pull that off!

HT: Ben Smith

Palin

America's most pressing issue of late has been energy. No Governor deals with the Oil companies and energy logistics like the Alaskan governor does. Sarah Palin has made a career for herself by exposing the corruption between the Government and these oil companies, and she has managed to move forward a vital project that has been stalled during the previous two administrations. In short, she is probably the most qualified candidate to deal with America's most pressing issue.

The media is doing everything it can to take her down.. Yesterday they where pointing out that she had donations from some of the same corrupt oil companies at Ted Stevens and Don Young are being investigated for. The time line vindicates her.. There was nothing illegal about receiving campaign contributions. What is illegal is receiving them in exchange for something else.. Palin lost that election and was appointed to he Ethics commission overseeing the oil contracts. She saw the corruption and blew the whistle. Those donations didn't cloud her judgment. She didn't look the other way when she saw corruption. She did what is right in spite of the fact that it hurt her party, and it hurt her donors. This is exactly why John McCain picked her.. He did the same thing throughout his career.

Thursday night Barak Obama accused John McCain of "Not getting it" - Not understanding the situation of mainstream blue collar and middle class America. Friday morning, McCain brought "it" onto his ticket. A hard working blue collar, middle class, state school educated everyday American.

By Friday evening the democrats where arguing that "It" doesn't anywhere near the White house... The left wing bloggers went haywire and made ridiculous claims about her, and somehow her teenage daughter is the topic of conversation. I think that Obama is knows that he is in trouble on this one. America will like Sarah Palin. She is one of them. The more she becomes the topic of discussion, and more the liberals are seen as desperately trying to sabotage her, the more America will break toward McCain/Palin.

Unfortunately for them, The Daily Kos unleashed the mainstream media with their bizarre fake pregnancy story, and once the media monster is out of it's cage, there is not a lot that the political parties can do to put it back.

Turn the other cheek - Rob Bell.

I have gotta say, I really want to like Rob Bell. His stuff is profound. It makes you think.

Many folks that I respect quite a bit respect him a lot.

I can't bring my self to buy his teaching. It is not that it is right, or wrong, it is that there is no way to know. The guy takes obscure history, applies it to scripture to take a perfectly profound scripture and make it even more profound. Is he right? I don't have any idea how to check. He is Berean-proof.

Here is the example that turned me off to him:

What do you think?

Facebook is getting better

I just looked at "The New Facebook" and I am really liking the new features.

I am able to get it to scan my blog, my google notes, and my flickr feed and publish them to my facebook feed automatically. Pretty slick.

I used to say that the best thing about facebook was scrabulous (Now wordscraper). Now I might change my mind

Death By Love

I have been anticipating this book for a long time. Based on this video, I suspect it will be as better than I expected.

"Rationing Gas" revisited.

So as I expected, my "Rationing Gas" post from a few weeks ago didn't sit well with the audience. It doesn't really sit well with me either...

Here is what I see as the core problem. Everyone agrees we must conserve. The problem is that nobody really wants their consumption to be where the conservation takes place. Moreover, The market forces do most likely force conservation, but only because those at the bottom of the income scale don't have any choice but to stop buying.

Is this the fair and just way to curb consumption? Seems to me that the folks who get hit the hardest are most likely the ones who did absolutely nothing to increase demand.

I agree that the hands off approach is generally the most efficient market. Efficient markets however are built to encourage consumption and production, not conservation.

Without spewing out the GOP talking points, (Which I tend to agree with) (Drilling, Nuclear, Alternative fuels etc) Is there a way to proper way to encourage conservation without making the impoverished do the bulk of the conserving due to lack of funds? Why is it okay to make the poor suffer because the non-poor's appetite for oil? Why or why not?

Osteen trial

This post is Dead-on.

http://gospeldrivenchurch.blogspot.com/2008/08/osteen-esque-entitlement-and-knowing.html

Litigation is stupid, but sometimes it does help the truth to emerge.

rationing gas

I am generally capitalist, and believe that the best way make things affordable is to let the market do its work.

I am having a bit of hesitation about that lately though. It seems to me that frivolous demands can increase price for those with fixed needs.

Let's say that I drive 5 or 10 miles per day to work. My rich neighbor drives 100 miles a day, golfing and boating. His demand is going to effect the price that I pay at the pump. I must pay, if I want to earn a paycheck. He doesn't have to pay, but he is using disposable income, and doesn't care.

It seems to me that there should be a ration based tax system. Each month, your first 30 or so gallons per vehicle are at one rate, which is subsidized by a tax on the fuel purchased over that rationed amount.

That way if You are driving up demand, you are also providing for the people who you are hurting by driving up demand.

Could be managed kinda like the fairtax.org style prebate.

Spokane's mansions

I hear this is now on the market for a meager $3,250,000

Pretty darn cool house. Spokane had it's Glory days, but alas they are long ago.