Posted as a comment concerning Warren Buffet and Bill Gates discussion on why taxes are too low for the wealthy:
These guys are a joke. If they would just take the standard deductions they would pay more in taxes, but they don't. They use all the available write-offs and loop-holes available. So, they are saying that the only way to get them to pay more in taxes is to have the government FORCE them? Hypocrites. How about just writing a bigger check, or declining any refunds?
And mathematically their argument does not work. If you take all of their wealth, not just their income but sell everything they own, and give it to the government, it wouldn't fund it for four months. THEN where do you go to get the money? It's not an income problem, it is an outgo (spending) problem. When the government consistently spends more than comes in, no amount of income will fix it.
An old saying: When your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep becomes your downfall!
©
Emittravel 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The Writer's Curse
Here it is again
that familiar drawing to write
The ache in the heart
that causes both pleasure
and pain
The irresistible urge to express
and the compulsion to run away
There is no escape
There is no escape
I must pour out what’s inside
To not is to numb my soul
devoid my life of its meaning
I know not what will come out
Let the words come forth
Searching
Grieving
Swimming
Sinking
Ride the wave of emotion
until its final crash to shore
No choice but to give in
No choice but to give in
Pick up the pen
Scrawl my passion
upon a tablet for all to read
Give in to the moment
and seek the blessing
of the writer’s curse
J.P. Wiegand
J.P. Wiegand
©Emittravel 2005
I was driving home one evening and was overwhelmed by the urge to write. I believe, no matter what mode of artistic expression you use, that this is a very familiar urge. As soon as I got home I sat down and started writing. I was a bit surprised to see what came out; totally unexpected. I dedicate this blog entry to one of my favorite writers: http://anythingfitsanakedman.blogspot.com/
Thanks Joan for your inspiration! -j.p.
© Emittravel 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Stuff My Brain Says #4
I'm perfectly fine with someone burning the flag, the Bible, or Koran. I wouldn't do it myself, but I'm fine with someone else doing it. Think about it: the flag REPRESENTS our nation. Our nation is founded on liberty. The First Amendment guarantees us the right to free speech. Burning the flag is a statement that one disagrees with this nation in some way. It is only a piece of cloth. If you take away the right to make that statement you have done more damage to liberty than the burning of that piece of cloth. What it represents is intangible. You can't hurt liberty by destroying a symbol of it.
Same with the Bible or Koran. I don't care if someone buys a copy and burns it. Doesn't matter. What did they do? They burned paper, ink, and possibly a leather binding. That's it. Christians claim the Bible to be the Word of God. It is a holy book. What makes it holy? That particular copy, or what the words represent/say? Would a copy published by a Christian company be any more holy than one published by a secular one? The Word of God is not so fragile that it will fail if a copy of it is burned. Same with the Koran. Muslims believe it is a holy book as well. Why do they get so upset if a physical copy is burned? Don't the words live beyond the printed page? Would deleting the Bible or Koran app (is there such a thing?) from your iPhone be considered the same thing as destroying a physical copy?
© Emittravel 2011
Same with the Bible or Koran. I don't care if someone buys a copy and burns it. Doesn't matter. What did they do? They burned paper, ink, and possibly a leather binding. That's it. Christians claim the Bible to be the Word of God. It is a holy book. What makes it holy? That particular copy, or what the words represent/say? Would a copy published by a Christian company be any more holy than one published by a secular one? The Word of God is not so fragile that it will fail if a copy of it is burned. Same with the Koran. Muslims believe it is a holy book as well. Why do they get so upset if a physical copy is burned? Don't the words live beyond the printed page? Would deleting the Bible or Koran app (is there such a thing?) from your iPhone be considered the same thing as destroying a physical copy?
© Emittravel 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Stuff My Brain Says #3
Would it change the argument any if we started calling them by the flip titles of Anti-Choice and Pro-Death?
© Emittravel 2011
© Emittravel 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Stuff My Brain Says #2
How come the gas prices are quick to go up when the price of oil per barrel goes up, but take forever (if at all) for the prices to go down when the price of oil per barrel goes down?
My point: The price of oil dropped to $112/barrel with the death of Osama bin Laden, but the price at the pump went UP ten cents! Don’t tell us that the price at the pump is related to the price per barrel only when it goes up, but conveniently ignore that supply & demand rule when it goes down.
© Emittravel 2011
My point: The price of oil dropped to $112/barrel with the death of Osama bin Laden, but the price at the pump went UP ten cents! Don’t tell us that the price at the pump is related to the price per barrel only when it goes up, but conveniently ignore that supply & demand rule when it goes down.
© Emittravel 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Stuff My Brain Says
For those who have been reading this blog will note that I tend to write sometimes long, but always well-thought out articles. I normally don't post a link to an article, or a picture, with a comment or two. The bright side is that you the reader get to read articles that try to establish a point or two. The not-so bright side is that I find that I'm posting once or twice a month.
I was having a conversation with my wife, a.k.a "my better half", and she noted that I've been posting short quips to my Facebook page that I don't post to this blog. She stated that the comments are quick, poignant, and sometimes funny, and would give readers of my blog other insights into MHBAO. In other words, give them spoon fulls instead of steam shovel fulls all of the time. Keep writing the full articles, but eliminate the larger gaps between posts.
She is not only beautiful, but extremely wise.
So, in being the good husband and actually LISTENING to my wife, I will start posting these thoughts under the heading of "Stuff My Brain Says". Some will be posted as they strike me, others will be from some of the previous comments I've made on Facebook.
So here is the first installment of "Stuff My Brain Says". Enjoy!
"What? What do you mean: 72 sturgeons?!?" - Osama bin Laden (in honor of his death and burial at sea)
© Emittravel 2011
I was having a conversation with my wife, a.k.a "my better half", and she noted that I've been posting short quips to my Facebook page that I don't post to this blog. She stated that the comments are quick, poignant, and sometimes funny, and would give readers of my blog other insights into MHBAO. In other words, give them spoon fulls instead of steam shovel fulls all of the time. Keep writing the full articles, but eliminate the larger gaps between posts.
She is not only beautiful, but extremely wise.
So, in being the good husband and actually LISTENING to my wife, I will start posting these thoughts under the heading of "Stuff My Brain Says". Some will be posted as they strike me, others will be from some of the previous comments I've made on Facebook.
So here is the first installment of "Stuff My Brain Says". Enjoy!
"What? What do you mean: 72 sturgeons?!?" - Osama bin Laden (in honor of his death and burial at sea)
© Emittravel 2011
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Why Muslims Should be America's Biggest Supporters
I've been a Christian since the early 1990's and have read the Bible more times than I can count, read more books than I care to remember, and have listened to more sermons than most ministers have preached in a lifetime - usually more than once. The Bible says to "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15). It is with this background and understanding that I present this edition of My Humble But Accurate Opinion:
In all my years of study, I have never found the United States represented in scripture. Oh, there are the few vague inferences that some have presented. And if you close one eye, and squint the other really hard, you may actually see it. I haven't. Especially when it comes to scriptures that deal with what has been called "The End Times".
Now understand, the Bible can be broken up into several sections of history beyond just the "Old" and "New" testaments. I'm not going into a great amount of detail here, because, as the title of this article suggests, I've got a point to make. I will say that, in the New Testament, the historical records of the events that were occurring during that time, come to an end at the end of the Book of Acts. There are letters (or "epistles") that follow, but for the most part they fall historically during the times of the Book of Acts. Until you come to the book of Revelation.
Okay, I did it. I mentioned that book of books that makes people either get their hearts a'pumpin' with excitement, or makes their eyes glaze over. And to be honest, for the most part, I tend to fall into the latter group. There is an awful amount of imagery there. In some aspects those images lend themselves to the coming of the fall of Rome; in others they present a time that is historically down the road. But understand: the locations represented there are local to the areas around the Middle East. There is not even a remote reference to any nation to the west. No great "eagle" across the great pond. Nothing. The center of the world, in view of the Bible, is Israel - especially the city of Jerusalem.
There are two main books of the Bible that specifically deal in end times events: Daniel (Old Testament) and Revelation (New Testament). I'm not saying that those are the only references; just the main ones. And, read them yourself, you will not find the United States in either.
What's my point? Think about it. Nothing takes place in the world without the involvement of the United States. Our currency is the basis for the world's economy. We are the biggest ally of Israel. You can't find a peace process initiated in the Middle East without the hand of the United States all over it. Good or bad, the United States is intricately involved in everything that goes on in this world. So, how can you have an infallible book that has proven itself over and over to be accurate (historically, archaeologically, prophetically, etc.) completely miss the existence of the United States in the "current affairs" of the events taking place at the "end times"? Did God say, "Oops!"? I don't think so.
Something has to take place that removes the United States as a world power; eliminating any need for its involvement in the events of the end times.
Take a moment to absorb that. I'll wait.
Now don't get me wrong: I love this country and want nothing more than to see it prosper, grow, and be an ever-driving force for good. I believe that this nation was founded by men and women who loved God and sought His guidance in their affairs. More evangelism (a.k.a. "soul winning") has come forth from the United States than any other nation. But something has to happen in order for the end time events to take place. In other words, Jesus isn't coming back until the United States "goes away".
There are many possible causes for the removal of the United States as a world power/influencer, but I think they can all be whittled down to three possible scenarios: The Rapture takes place, economic collapse, or massive terrorist attacks beyond the scope of 9/11.
The Rapture takes place. The Bible says: "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)
"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them…" That is a instantaneous mass exodus. When this takes place there is going to be an immediate and drastic drop in the population of the United States. At this point there will be chaos. The United States will implode trying to handle it. Just imagine what will happen when a large portion of our armed forces disappear - around the world! This country will pull every one back within its borders and "circle the wagons".
Economic collapse. Already the dollar has lost so much value due to the non-stop printing presses. Understand, we have a LOT of debt. Some say that we should tax the "rich" and that would solve everything. Honey, if you take the total net worth from everyone that is $250k or greater, you wouldn't even dent the amount of debt we have. And if they don't change the amount being spent, the amount recouped by taking it from the "rich" will be forgotten in a year - and then just who do they go after? The "new rich" - a.k.a. "the rest of us"! In order to pay the multiple trillions of debt due annually they crank out more dollars out of the printing presses. And the more they do, the less value those dollars have.
That's right boys and girls, you can blame the "evil oil companies" for the high gas prices, but understand that it takes more dollars to buy the same amount of oil. Ask your parents how much a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, or a gallon of gas cost them when they were kids . . .
Not only are we in such a deep hole financially, but the world is already looking at replacing the dollar as the world recognized currency. Heck! With the President's "apology tour", for one example, how can you blame them?
Massive terrorist attacks. This one is (hopefully) the least likely, but you can't rule it out. Look what happened immediately after 9/11. Yes, I know it got us fired up, but not until after we first went fetal. A terrorist attack now doesn't have to be a plane in a building. You can pretty much take out a couple of city blocks with a nuclear device in a suitcase. A dirty-bomb would take out even more - make Japan's nuclear reactor woes seem more than mild. Getting them into the country wouldn't be impossible either - we all know how secure our borders are (insert sarcasm HERE). Since 9/11 we have full-groping by the TSA at our airports. Can you imagine what this country would be like after multiple, simultaneous, attacks?
Of the three, the first two are most likely to take place. And keep in mind, the scripture referenced above does consider the Rapture "comfort". I think that the second, economic collapse, is most likely to take place first, though there aren't any prophetic scriptures that have to take place before the Rapture can.
Now let's tie this column's title into this.
Muslims believe Jesus is coming back. That's right. They believe in the end times of the Bible. I know they say they follow the Koran, but as the saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words." The picture below (and please follow the link after you finish this article to read the information that the submitter graciously provided with it) shows the East Wall of the holy city of Jerusalem. In particular one of the gates to the city known as the Golden Gate.
Notice what is front of the gate? A cemetery. There is a cemetery, of Muslim graves, put there to prevent Elijah, who is to arrive before the Messiah, from going through the gate upon Jesus the Messiah's return. You see, they believe that a holy man would never step upon the ground of a dead person - they would become defiled and "unclean". Do you get it? They planted graves to prevent this event from happening. I hate to say this, but Muslims believe Jesus is coming back more than some Christians I've talked to over the years.
My point: It is in the best interest of Muslims that the United States remains a world power. They should stop trying to take it out. They should do everything in their power to keep the United States a world power, or the Messiah WILL be coming back and they KNOW it! And when He does, an offensive cartoon will be the least of their worries!
Stop the Jihad, I want to get off!
© Emittravel 2011
In all my years of study, I have never found the United States represented in scripture. Oh, there are the few vague inferences that some have presented. And if you close one eye, and squint the other really hard, you may actually see it. I haven't. Especially when it comes to scriptures that deal with what has been called "The End Times".
Now understand, the Bible can be broken up into several sections of history beyond just the "Old" and "New" testaments. I'm not going into a great amount of detail here, because, as the title of this article suggests, I've got a point to make. I will say that, in the New Testament, the historical records of the events that were occurring during that time, come to an end at the end of the Book of Acts. There are letters (or "epistles") that follow, but for the most part they fall historically during the times of the Book of Acts. Until you come to the book of Revelation.
Okay, I did it. I mentioned that book of books that makes people either get their hearts a'pumpin' with excitement, or makes their eyes glaze over. And to be honest, for the most part, I tend to fall into the latter group. There is an awful amount of imagery there. In some aspects those images lend themselves to the coming of the fall of Rome; in others they present a time that is historically down the road. But understand: the locations represented there are local to the areas around the Middle East. There is not even a remote reference to any nation to the west. No great "eagle" across the great pond. Nothing. The center of the world, in view of the Bible, is Israel - especially the city of Jerusalem.
There are two main books of the Bible that specifically deal in end times events: Daniel (Old Testament) and Revelation (New Testament). I'm not saying that those are the only references; just the main ones. And, read them yourself, you will not find the United States in either.
What's my point? Think about it. Nothing takes place in the world without the involvement of the United States. Our currency is the basis for the world's economy. We are the biggest ally of Israel. You can't find a peace process initiated in the Middle East without the hand of the United States all over it. Good or bad, the United States is intricately involved in everything that goes on in this world. So, how can you have an infallible book that has proven itself over and over to be accurate (historically, archaeologically, prophetically, etc.) completely miss the existence of the United States in the "current affairs" of the events taking place at the "end times"? Did God say, "Oops!"? I don't think so.
Something has to take place that removes the United States as a world power; eliminating any need for its involvement in the events of the end times.
Take a moment to absorb that. I'll wait.
Now don't get me wrong: I love this country and want nothing more than to see it prosper, grow, and be an ever-driving force for good. I believe that this nation was founded by men and women who loved God and sought His guidance in their affairs. More evangelism (a.k.a. "soul winning") has come forth from the United States than any other nation. But something has to happen in order for the end time events to take place. In other words, Jesus isn't coming back until the United States "goes away".
There are many possible causes for the removal of the United States as a world power/influencer, but I think they can all be whittled down to three possible scenarios: The Rapture takes place, economic collapse, or massive terrorist attacks beyond the scope of 9/11.
The Rapture takes place. The Bible says: "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)
"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them…" That is a instantaneous mass exodus. When this takes place there is going to be an immediate and drastic drop in the population of the United States. At this point there will be chaos. The United States will implode trying to handle it. Just imagine what will happen when a large portion of our armed forces disappear - around the world! This country will pull every one back within its borders and "circle the wagons".
Economic collapse. Already the dollar has lost so much value due to the non-stop printing presses. Understand, we have a LOT of debt. Some say that we should tax the "rich" and that would solve everything. Honey, if you take the total net worth from everyone that is $250k or greater, you wouldn't even dent the amount of debt we have. And if they don't change the amount being spent, the amount recouped by taking it from the "rich" will be forgotten in a year - and then just who do they go after? The "new rich" - a.k.a. "the rest of us"! In order to pay the multiple trillions of debt due annually they crank out more dollars out of the printing presses. And the more they do, the less value those dollars have.
That's right boys and girls, you can blame the "evil oil companies" for the high gas prices, but understand that it takes more dollars to buy the same amount of oil. Ask your parents how much a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, or a gallon of gas cost them when they were kids . . .
Not only are we in such a deep hole financially, but the world is already looking at replacing the dollar as the world recognized currency. Heck! With the President's "apology tour", for one example, how can you blame them?
Massive terrorist attacks. This one is (hopefully) the least likely, but you can't rule it out. Look what happened immediately after 9/11. Yes, I know it got us fired up, but not until after we first went fetal. A terrorist attack now doesn't have to be a plane in a building. You can pretty much take out a couple of city blocks with a nuclear device in a suitcase. A dirty-bomb would take out even more - make Japan's nuclear reactor woes seem more than mild. Getting them into the country wouldn't be impossible either - we all know how secure our borders are (insert sarcasm HERE). Since 9/11 we have full-groping by the TSA at our airports. Can you imagine what this country would be like after multiple, simultaneous, attacks?
Of the three, the first two are most likely to take place. And keep in mind, the scripture referenced above does consider the Rapture "comfort". I think that the second, economic collapse, is most likely to take place first, though there aren't any prophetic scriptures that have to take place before the Rapture can.
Now let's tie this column's title into this.
Muslims believe Jesus is coming back. That's right. They believe in the end times of the Bible. I know they say they follow the Koran, but as the saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words." The picture below (and please follow the link after you finish this article to read the information that the submitter graciously provided with it) shows the East Wall of the holy city of Jerusalem. In particular one of the gates to the city known as the Golden Gate.
Notice what is front of the gate? A cemetery. There is a cemetery, of Muslim graves, put there to prevent Elijah, who is to arrive before the Messiah, from going through the gate upon Jesus the Messiah's return. You see, they believe that a holy man would never step upon the ground of a dead person - they would become defiled and "unclean". Do you get it? They planted graves to prevent this event from happening. I hate to say this, but Muslims believe Jesus is coming back more than some Christians I've talked to over the years.
My point: It is in the best interest of Muslims that the United States remains a world power. They should stop trying to take it out. They should do everything in their power to keep the United States a world power, or the Messiah WILL be coming back and they KNOW it! And when He does, an offensive cartoon will be the least of their worries!
Stop the Jihad, I want to get off!
© Emittravel 2011
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