Columbine

We support the prohibition of access (through sales or any other means) to lethal weapons by obviously psychotic and criminal individuals, while at the same time granting full second amendment rights to all responsible citizens.  The word responsible implies local licensure, regular competence and safety demonstration, safe storage, and regular local home inspection.  The word local implies that no police agency: not FBI, State BI, Sheriff, town police, or any other be allowed to control such regulation.  Only privately held, local businesses or social organizations can be trusted with such power.

On May 27, 1999, the following statement was made to the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on crime.  Opposing statements were also heard.  According to Snopes, these statements were available to the Associated Press and reported in several big-city newspapers.  According to Snopes, partially false or misleading copies of this statement are being widely circulated.

We republish this statement here simply because it relates to our contemporary pain.  Arming teachers is not a long-term solution, teachers already have more than enough to do.  Stationing armed police in every school corridor is not a long-term solution either, our schools already look too much like prisons.  The only key long-term solution is to keep evil invaders out of and far away from our schools.  This statement proposes one way to do exactly that: keep evil invaders out of and far away from our schools.  While all of us may not agree with Mr. Scott’s opinion at least he seems to be focused on the right problem.  We need proposals that offer a way to keep evil invaders out of and far away from our schools.

Quote

Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women.  We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence.

The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain.  Their blood cries out for answers.

The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field.  The villain was not the club he used.  Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association.  The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA.  I am not a member of the NRA.  I am not a hunter.  I do not even own a gun.  I am not here to represent or defend the NRA – because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. 

Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended.  If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy – it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies!  Much of the blame lies here in this room.  Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves.  I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air. 
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer. 
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die. 
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed. 
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

Men and women are three-part beings.  We all consist of body, mind, and spirit.  When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc.  Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history.  Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries.  This is a historical fact.  What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence.  And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs – politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA.  They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties.  We do not need more restrictive laws.  Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors.  No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre.  The real villain lies within our own hearts.

As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school.  I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools.  Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain.  Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him.  To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA – I give to you a sincere challenge.  Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!

My daughter's death will not be in vain!  The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!

Unquote

Darrell Scott

Arming Teachers 2

Should Our Teachers Be Packing?

How Do We Deal With the Grief?

Whatever we do, we must never lay this at the feet of the grieving people of Newton, MA.  Socially, this is a national disaster.  However, we must solve this disaster locally in every community.  The facts seem to be that our neighbor cried out for help and we did very little about it.  How do we do that without accusing the grieving people of Newton, MA?  Newton’s grief is our grief, so at square one, we need to buy into it.  We need to man-up and woman-up and accept our responsibility.  This is my problem, and I need to take ownership of it.  We need to talk.  We need to solve this together.  This is a Biblical, Spiritual problem and, we’re not doing a very good job, either Biblically or Spiritually.  We deal with grief by sharing its burden.

Is More Law Enforcement the Solution?

More law enforcement won't necessarily keep evil perpetrators out of the hallways.  This particular perpetrator was known and identified well ahead of time.  Nobody dealt with him sufficiently.  We the people allowed this evil person in the door.  We set up the social conditions that permitted this perpetrator to act.  We permitted, by our attitudes and lack of actions, the slaughter of twenty-six innocent people.  This is not Newton’s problem.  This is our problem.  More law enforcement won’t necessarily do the job that needs to be done.

Is There Biblical Wisdom On This Topic?

Moses suggests that it is perfectly possible for devoted, God fearing, spiritual parents, to get in over their heads parenting.  In such a case Moses requires the town elders to handle the problem.  We might not want to apply the solution exactly the way that Moses applied it, but we ignore Moses’ wisdom and principles to our own peril (Exodus 21:15, 17; Deuteronomy 21:18-21).  This parent was clearly in over the head parenting.  There is something about our society that prevents the necessary help from arriving.  The (repeated) outcome is alarming tragedy.  When a parent gets in over their head, society needs to take parenting support action.  That support system failed in Newton, but it also is a failure in Norman, Oklahoma, and everywhere-else-town, USA.  DHS has not proved to be a reliable solution.

How Can We Become More Vigilant?

While it is true that we don’t always see trouble coming, this only indicates that we are not being watchful enough.  Perhaps we don’t need to become hyper-vigilant, but we certainly need to become more vigilant.  Perhaps we fail at the necessary vigilance because our sense of community has been greatly diluted.  We need to find a way to fix our sense of community.  It does take a village.  We cannot become sufficiently vigilant by ourselves, isolated, alone.

What Is The Real Goal?

The bottom line is that we need to keep perpetrators out of our school hallways.  We need to stop them before they get through the doors.  That is the objective.  That is the goal we must accomplish.  Can we agree to stay focused on this?

What Environment Are We Creating?

I don’t really like the idea of cops in every hallway, locks on every door, and bars on every window.  Think about it.  Aren’t we turning our schools into prisons, instead of the fun, exciting, learning places they ought to be?  Maybe the safety zone should be larger than the building walls, maybe it should be the property fence or beyond, and maybe nobody should get inside the fence without being thoroughly vetted.  Maybe then, we can safely take the locks off the doors, the bars off the windows, but install bullet proof glass in every window.

Should Mentally Disturbed People Have Guns?

I’m a hawk, not a dove.  I actively oppose excessive gun control and gun paranoia.  However, I find it difficult to cope with a society that believes that the mentally disturbed and criminals ought to be allowed to be armed, while responsible citizens ought to be disarmed.  It is simply illogical that it is not a felony to sell guns to the mentally disturbed and criminals.

Is Psychological Vetting Possible?

Every citizen should be psychologically vetted before being allowed to buy their first gun.  The problem is that such vetting is expensive, and is easily twisted by those with one particular viewpoint or other.  How would we ever exercise such power reasonably and responsibly?  I don’t know that we are capable of handling such power.  I do know, what everybody else now knows, this kid should have never been allowed near a gun.  Nevertheless, playing Monday morning quarterback will not cure our social problem.  We should recognize when somebody steps over the line repeatedly.  How do we go about doing that?

Is Reliable Citizen Control Possible?

Gun ownership and use is every bit as big a deal as driving a car, buying a drink, or smoking a cigarette: all have serious lethal capability.  No one should be allowed to own a gun without demonstrating the necessary safety knowledge, use skills, and controlled storage capability.  That means licensing.  That means annual firing range testing.  That means mandatory vault ownership.  That means surveillance to prove that the vault is in use.  After all, we do require mandatory auto seat safety belts, and this is much more serious.  The problem is that I don’t want the FBI, or the OSBI, or the sheriff, or the local police chief monitoring such gun regulation or even knowing that I have a gun; but maybe I need a contract with my next-door neighbor or the person who sold me the gun.  I get private furnace inspections every year without police involvement, why not mandated annual gun security inspections ($50)?

Are We Being Realistic?

Unfortunately, if we don't find a way to keep perpetrators out of the hallways, more bullets will fly.  However, teachers are already overloaded with tasks.  They don't need one more duty to juggle, otherwise I could support guns for some teachers under some conditions, but I could never support guns for all teachers under all conditions.  If such legislation were ever passed, we would need some assurance of security other than, “It's locked in the teacher's desk drawer.”  Guns in the classroom is a sort of Band-Aid, as are effective SWAT operations, but neither of these deal with the fundamental problem: namely, the perpetrator got past the school door.  But I’m not willing to give up effective SWAT operations.

Yesterday’s Thoughts

“Well, arming teachers may not do the trick, at least not in every case.

But changing our attitudes is very important.  We have altered police attitudes nationwide so that police now engage school threats immediately.  But ours is a nation built on patriots and patriotism.  “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot” does shrink.  The attitude of the whole town must be turned.  We must all learn immediately to engage threats to children, the weak, and the helpless.  We must cease standing idly by while another human being is being abused.  We must learn and know how to engage threats.

That’s a pretty personal decision for [each of] us.  We must plan ahead and decide what we will do with a given threat.  If you decide to huddle with the children in a safe room, that’s fine with me.  If you vote to have an armed police squad in every school, I’ll support you.  But if you decide that you want either a taser or a 9mm or both locked in a secure place, and are willing to take the training to use whichever you choose, I’m with you all the way.

We need a plan that stops perpetrators from getting into schools to begin with.  If an alert armed teacher on the playground can stop a perpetrator before the perpetrator gets in the building, before the police can possibly get there, I’m all for it.  We need to do something, and we need to do it better, right now.

That does not mean that I should force you to pack a Glock against your will.  But both of us need to be active participants, willing and able to engage any enemy.

Your weapon of choice might be words.

I’ll take the guard job armed with an assault rifle, shotgun, 45, taser, cuffs, club, and uniform, thank you.”

Today’s Conclusions

So, No, I don’t really want my teachers to be forced into packing.  Teacher carry fails to accomplish the basic objective: namely, keep evil perpetrators outside of the building, outside of the school yard, outside of quiet and well-ordered society.  Teacher carry fails to provide a safe and fun learning environment for our kids.  Teachers already have much too much to do, they do not need to tack on one more serious responsibility.  But if we as a society fail to step up, teacher carry may be our only recourse.

Arming Teachers

Should Our Teachers Be Packing?

Well, arming teachers may not do the trick, at least not in every case.

 

But changing our attitudes is very important.  We have altered police attitudes nationwide so that police now engage school threats immediately.  But ours is a nation built on patriots and patriotism.  “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot” does shrink.  The attitude of the whole town must be turned.  We must all learn immediately to engage threats to children, the weak, and the helpless.  We must cease standing idly by while another human being is being abused.  We must learn and know how to engage threats.

 

That’s a pretty personal decision for us.  We must plan ahead and decide what we will do with a given threat.  If you decide to huddle with the children in a safe room, that’s fine with me.  If you vote to have an armed police squad in every school, I’ll support you.  But if you decide that you want either a taser or a 9mm or both locked in a secure place, and are willing to take the training to use whichever you choose, I’m with you all the way. 

 

We need a plan that stops perpetrators from getting into schools to begin with.  If an alert armed teacher on the playground can stop a perpetrator before the perpetrator gets in the building, before the police can possibly get there, I’m all for it.  We need to do something, and we need to do it better, right now.

 

That does not mean that I should force you to pack a Glock against your will.  But both of us need to be active participants, willing and able to engage any enemy.

 

Your weapon of choice might be words.

 

I’ll take the guard job armed with an assault rifle, shotgun, 45, taser, cuffs, club, and uniform, thank you.

Teaching

I used to think that teaching was an easy job until I did it.  Even without the threat of death, teachers face a formidable job.  They must engage each of their students on a moment-by-moment basis throughout the day.  While this is not a life-ending engagement, it is every bit as difficult to accomplish academically and psychologically, and occasionally just as terrifying.  Students bring their psychological problems into the classroom: bus or schoolyard fights, jealousies, home problems, resistance to education, prior failures or successes; racial, sexual or personal prejudices; anger, malice and rages or loves and crushes; unfinished homework; supported or unsupported study environment, etc.  Throughout the entire day, the teacher must engage all of these at the same time with several children at once and deliver an education package.  Then, they get to go home and grade papers.  Some teachers must also teach evening classes in sports and athletics: it’s called coaching.  Teachers have little time for their own families.  Teachers are grossly underappreciated, under respected, undervalued, and definitely underpaid.  Teachers accomplish all these undefined tasks while being self-administered and self-supervised.  They are highly trained professionals who know how to do their jobs, mostly by themselves.

 

The abuses in the system lie in the field of administration.  Much administration is simply unnecessary.  Much of it is also misguided.  Administrators pontificate about the job, but don’t have to do it.  Top-level administrators, the kind that spew out national-level education policy statements and theory, cannot know what they’re talking about; they are full of hot air.  Yet these administrators decide which books are used, what test standards are, tell us what good education is, and otherwise manipulate the education system.  Even at the principal level, it is relatively simple for an administrator to fire a teacher, in spite of union and other opposition.  Several of these do-nothing-constructive administrators are paid salaries in the multiple-millions of dollars.  They simply are unnecessary to a well-ordered education system, and equally unworthy of their wages.  Fire them all except for the local school principal.  Retain an administrative secretarial staff at secretarial wages to handle the paperwork.  Remove the power of principals to hire or fire and put it into the hands of a local teacher’s board established from the tenured teachers within the local school with outside members chosen from the PTA, the principal can serve as ex-officio chair.  Administrators are frequently the greedy moochers at the public trough, part of the problem, rather than part of the solution.

 

Fundamental to the education problem is that utopian dream of many Americans that this problem should be fixed at the national level.  That idea is simply insane.  It is a tactical problem, not a strategic problem, and it needs to be resolved at the tactical level.  A strategic commander who overrides a tactical commander is a colossal fool, who needs to be eliminated from the system.  The focus of the problem is engagement of students within the classroom.  The teacher is the on-scene tactical commander.  The problem cannot be fixed at the national, state, county, or even large community level.  The problem must be fixed at the classroom level.  We do this by hiring good teachers locally, by putting the books and tools they want and need into their hands, by insisting that they engage, and by helping, supporting them in every way possible.  Give the local teachers the pay and respect they deserve.

 

When schools fail, it is a local community issue.  If your school failed, it’s your fault.  Are you, as a parent, engaging and supporting your children’s teachers sufficiently?  Are you, as a teacher, engaging and supporting your children’s parents sufficiently?  Are we, as a local community, really engaging and supporting one another sufficiently?  Or, are we just going about business as usual?  It’s a village team effort.  Don’t look to Uncle Sam to fix it, he doesn’t know how.

Is Bethlehem Ready?

I just have to repost this.  It says what needs to be said.

Is Bethlehem Ready?

I am certainly not the only one who was more deeply moved than usual at the Christmas pageant this year.

 The faces of the young angels dressed in white and the fake-bearded shepherds seemed especially vulnerable and innocent. Those precious faces will surely elicit from any sensitive heart a great sigh of grief for the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School whose children were slain last Friday. That someone would slaughter such helpless children is unthinkable.

"Where was God?" It is a question that has been asked times past numbering, rising as it does out man's encounters with such evil. It surely arose long ago in Bethlehem, when soldiers carrying out the orders of Herod slaughtered the Holy Innocents. To us was born a Savior, but did it have to cost the lives of the infants of Bethlehem? Could there be no warning dream to the parents of these children? Bethlehem "makes ready" for Emmanuel, but for Herod, too?

It seems the answers to such questions remain opaque; the best we can do is respond simply with the word of the Christmas Gospel. Where was God in Bethlehem? He was speechless, lying in a Manger. Where was God when Herod's men came? He was held in the arms of his mother while they escaped Herod's soldiers by fleeing to Egypt.

Yes, he escaped for a reason. Years later he was scourged and nailed to a cross on Calvary; his body was placed in a new tomb. His mother, who saw him safely into Egypt, stood weeping at Golgotha. After the Sabbath, the women disciples made their way to God's grave on Easter morning, broken-hearted and without hope.

Yet this God, also a man, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Moreover, he has promised to be with us to the end of age. And so he is, in the breaking of the Bread. For we shall find God Incarnate when we come to be fed by him, the Bread of Life. He is the One whom the shepherds found in the feeding trough (manger) of Bethlehem, the "House of Bread."

The families of Newtown must bear their grief in ways most of us cannot grasp, mourning as did the bereaved parents of Herod's Bethlehem and as countless others over the course of centuries. To those who grieve, who feel what they take to be the absence of God, the Lord says, "This is my body, broken for you. Take, eat." We can become like children, comforted by being fed.

Thousands of young angels will continue to sing in their pageants and little robed shepherds will march to the manger to see Emmanuel, wrapped in swaddling cloths. As we ponder their sweet faces, our hearts should be troubled to think of anyone doing violence to any child, anywhere, at any time. Alas, our world has grown hardened to such love.

Like the myrrh-bearing women, on their grief-shrouded mission to the tomb, we must bear the weight of earthly sorrow and simply do what love and devotion demand of us. Our hearts break, but in their breaking we discover a path to another world where joy heals the broken heart and love wipes away every tear. We have heard the voice of the angel, greeting us with living words like lightning, "He is not here; he is risen. Come, and behold the place."

"Make ready, O Bethlehem; for Eden hath been opened for all. Prepare, O Ephratha; for the Tree of Life hath blossomed forth in the cave from the Virgin. For her womb did appear as a supernatural paradise, in which is planted the Divine Plant, whereof eating we shall live and not die as Adam. Verily, Christ shall be born, raising the image that fell of old." (Orthodox Hymn, Prefeast of the Nativity)

James M. Kushiner,
Executive Director, Fellowship of St. James

Suffering

We weep with those who weep.  In Christ, their sorrow is our sorrow, their suffering our suffering, as God provides, their joy will be our joy.  We look with thanksgiving to Almighty God who heals all our wounds, and comforts all our sadness.

“Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.”

I pray to Almighty God that the lost sheep of this world might find Christ & live eternal, joyous, peace filled lives. Amen

Luther

Trust is such a strong word.  I don’t always trust what Luther says, he is an error prone human.  But, I always admire and respect what he has to say because I know that he is a pastor surrounded by death.  So yes, even when he makes a rare mistake, I’m confident that he knows about what he’s talking.  He is the real deal.

Soliloquies

“A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.  It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.  Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.  The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning....”  Ecclesiastes 7:1-4

 

When driving in traffic on a high-speed interstate road, it is a good idea to look ahead to see where we are going, and to plan ahead to make the trip less tedious.  After incarnation comes crucifixion, but after crucifixion come resurrection, life, and victory.

Daniel's Gloves

Some stories are just too good not to pass along.  Here is one that qualifies.  It came via e-mail.  Sadly, the author was not identified.

Daniel's Gloves

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square.  The food and the company were both especially good that day.  As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street.  There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back.  He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, 'I will work for food.'  My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him.  Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.  We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind.  We finished our meal and went our separate ways.

I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them.  I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor.  I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response.  I drove through town and saw nothing of him.  I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.  Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: 'Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square.'

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town.  As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him.  He was standing on the steps of the storefront church, going through his sack.  I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on.  The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park.  I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

'Looking for the pastor?' I asked.

'Not really,' he replied, 'just resting.'

'Have you eaten today?'

'Oh, I ate something early this morning.'

'Would you like to have lunch with me?'

'Do you have some work I could do for you?'

'No work,' I replied 'I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.'

'Sure,' he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions.  Where you headed?'

' St.  Louis '

'Where you from?'

'Oh, all over; mostly Florida ....'

'How long you been walking?'

'Fourteen years,' came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual.  We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier.  His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years.  His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling.  He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, 'Jesus is The Never Ending Story.'

Then Daniel's story began to unfold.  He had seen rough times early in life.  He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences.  Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona...  He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment.  A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services, he saw life more clearly.  He gave his life over to God.

'Nothing's been the same since,' he said, 'I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.'

'Ever think of stopping?' I asked.

'Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me, but God has given me this calling.  I give out Bibles.  That's what's in my sack.  I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.'

I sat amazed.  My homeless friend was not homeless.  He was on a mission and lived this way by choice.  The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: 'What's it like?'

'What?'

'To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?'

'Oh, it was humiliating at first.  People would stare and make comments.  Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome.  But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me.'

My concept was changing, too.  We finished our dessert and gathered his things.  Just outside the door, he paused He turned to me and said, 'Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you.  For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.'

I felt as if we were on holy ground.  'Could you use another Bible?' I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation.  It traveled well and was not too heavy.  It was also his personal favorite..  'I've read through it 14 times,' he said.

'I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see.'  I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

'Where are you headed from here?' I asked.

'Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.'

'Are you hoping to hire on there for a while?'

'No, I just figure I should go there.  I figure someone under that star, right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next.'

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission.  I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining.  We parked and unloaded his things.

'Would you sign my autograph book?' he asked...  'I like to keep messages from folks I meet.'

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life.  I encouraged him to stay strong.  And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, 'I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope.'

'Thanks, man,' he said.  'I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you.'

'I know,' I said, 'I love you, too.' 'The Lord is good!'

'Yes, He is.  How long has it been since someone hugged you?' I asked.

A long time,' he replied

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed..  He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, 'See you in the New Jerusalem.'

'I'll be there!' was my reply.

He began his journey again.  He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles.  He stopped, turned and said, 'When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

'You bet,' I shouted back, 'God bless.'

'God bless.' And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong.  The cold front had settled hard upon the town.  I bundled up and hurried to my car.  As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them...  a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle.  I picked them up, thought of my friend, and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words: 'If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office..  They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry.  'See you in the New Jerusalem,' he said.  Yes, Daniel, I know I will...

'I shall pass this way but once.  Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.'

Fiscal Cliff 1

I’m trying to check out the following as I write.

http://nationalseniorscouncil.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=89:obama-begins-push-for-new-national-retirement-system&catid=34:social-security&Itemid=62

So far, I have no confirming or denying information.  The report, as written, contains some errors or misconceptions.

“This scheme mirrors what I expect the President will try to do with Social Security.  He wants to turn that program into a welfare program, too.”  National Seniors Council National Director Robert Crone

Crone’s statement errs in that Social Security is already a welfare program.  As nearly everyone knows, that is its fundamental problem: S/S never was a savings program; it always depended on the donations of dependents to support the aging.  Payouts are only loosely tied to, and never funded by the deposits of the same generation.  However, at its inception S/S was 1% and relatively harmless.[1]  In 1990, that number grew to 6.2% plus an additional 1.45% for health insurance.

Matching numbers were paid by employers from the inception of the program.  However, this is patently deceptive.  OASDI and HI paid by employers are costs of doing business.  No businessperson in his right mind is going to pay these fees without recovering them.  The obvious methods of recovering them are to suppress salaries or to increase cost of sales.  Since increases in cost of sales are limited by the market, and are reflected immediately as cost of living, all of these costs are reflected to the wage earner.  The real cost to the wage earner ranged from 2% in 1937 (still harmless) to 15.3% in 1990.  This is now clearly a toxic load.[2]

According to SSA the rates for 2012 are:[3]

·       S/S 4.2% for employees

·       S/S 6.2% for employers

·       Medicare 1.45% for both employees and employers

This is a net drop of 2% to 13.3% overall which is still a toxic load.  Evidently, the 2% drop took place in 2011.[4]

Individuals making $24,000 a year or less (no wife, no children, no other dependents) cannot afford to forfeit 13.3% of budget, pay taxes, and survive.  Even after mortgage-free home ownership is achieved in retirement, a married couple cannot survive on less than $36,000 a year.[5]

To add insult to injury, Medicare victims are taxed an additional:[6]

·       $1,156 annual hospital deductable

·       $99.90 monthly Part B

·       $145 annual Part B deductable

·       20% Part B coinsurance

·       1990 Medicaid was introduced, which is a purely welfare program[7]

As the NNRS[8] overture is explained, it basically turns extant retirement programs into S/S programs.  That these can be juggled into increased-welfare emphasis is no mystery.  That this proposal is going in the wrong direction is also fairly obvious: it supposes that money grows on trees and that those who refuse to work have a right to eat.  The answer to both of these questions is obviously, NO!

The real question is, "Will it happen?"  Yes, of course it will happen, perhaps not in this form, but it will happen in some form.  It does not make any difference which party is in power, it will still happen.  Here’s the math.  The government, along with nearly everybody else, has overspent its income.  All levels of government, business, and private individuals are seriously in debt.  One way or another, the debt must be served.  The federal government will eventually come after any money or appearance of money that exists anywhere including your savings.  If and when these funds are exhausted, and taxes cannot be increased anymore, more money will be printed (inflation).  In any case it is fairly obvious that the citizenry will be bled to death and the system will collapse.  It’s inevitable.  No one will have a dime left, and we will be in Greece’s shoes, total default.  It’s inevitable.

The illusion is that there is a way out of this box.  People want to believe that some politician or other offers a way out.  There is no way out.  The damage was done years ago.  The only recovery plan that makes any sense is to wipe out the whole system today, start over from scratch, and do it right this time.  Instead, everybody is jockeying for power, and everybody will lose.

There are names for this sort of statistical game.  This is more complicated than 2 x 2 games, but the idea is the same.  In 2 x 2 games, these are called coordination, battle of sexes, chicken, and prisoner’s dilemma.[9]

We are now obviously playing the chicken game; you know how that’s played: the only way to win is to face a head on collision, but winning results in obvious death.  The only way to live is not to play, but that is not a Nash equilibrium,[10] so nobody is willing to do that.  Either side can find a better position by playing the game (more prestige, more power, more money).  As a result, given the present value system, both sides will play, and both sides will die: because, jumping in the ditch represents an enormous loss of prestige, power, money, and face.  Nobody will be willing to go in the ditch and yield victory to the other side.  A Schelling point[11] must be found and/or the game must be changed.

As the level of crime (federal theft) increases this could transition into the prisoner’s dilemma.  Each prisoner improves his position by ratting the other guy out.  Consequently, both prisoners turn rat, and both lose.

As far as I know, there is only one solution, which is Moses' solution.  Kill off all the debt and never let it happen again.  All loans are 0% interest loans and short-term payback (7 years).  A strict division is drawn between lending and business risk investing.  Business risk investing may share its predetermined proportion of profits of any magnitude for any time, but must also accept total loss as a risk (no bailouts under any circumstances).  Job loss is not a real consideration; it is a smokescreen that covers up the problem.  The reality is that all jobs are lost as soon as the business becomes unprofitable; we just want to live in denial of the facts.

The objection is frequently raised that this is nothing more than defaulting on loans, which is a vicious social evil.  I would agree except for the fact the the loans were established under fraudulent conditions to begin with.  This always was a Dutch book.[12]  We have always played with loaded dice.  High risks were always sheltered, but jobs were never ever really sheltered.[13]  The system was dishonest from square one.

To get out of the box we are going to have to obey Moses and Christ, and write off all the debts.  We need to do this in an orderly fashion if at all possible.  Otherwise it will be done to us, as it is being done to Greece right now.  Controlled or uncontrolled, orderly or disorderly, the game always ends the same way.

Is the federal government coming after your savings?  Yer darn tootin, they are.  It’s just a matter of when and how.

Yours in Christ,

Herb aka Augie

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[1] http://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/taxRates.html

[2] http://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/taxRates.html

[3] http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/240/~/2012-social-security-tax-rate-and-maximum-taxable-earnings

[4] http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/payroll/tax/wagelimits/index.html  See also http://taxes.about.com/od/payroll/qt/payroll_basics.htm.

[5] my estimates of survival living

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicaid

[8] New National Retirement System

[9] Stevens, Scott P., Games People Play: Game Theory in Life, Business, and Beyond (The Teaching Company, Chantilly, Virginia, 2008) 219 pages, 2 CDs

[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium  John Forbes Nash, Jr. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Forbes_Nash,_Jr.)

[11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_point_(game_theory)  It would be folly to believe that anyone is communicating or is even able to communicate in the current game.  The current game tends to render communication impossible.

[12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_book

[13] When your boss goes broke, your job is gone, and a bailout doesn’t really solve the problem; it simply redefines who went broke.  In this case instead of mega-companies going broke the debt is transferred to the backs of the populace, and the populace goes broke.  Since the populace is also the workers, jobs no longer exist.