I Believe in God

I believe in God. He is the Grand Architect of the Universe. Life would not make any sense to me with out Him. People have tried for years to explain away the events both natural and caused by man's deeds with science alone or myths and legends. Details are always missing in the story or matters not explained. These matters are usually dismissed. On the Discovery Channel, a program attempted to explain miracles form the Bible with just science. Basically the program claimed the miracles were just naturally occurring events that happened solely to nature. So, in that exact moment the Israelites needed passage across the Red Sea science said the puzzle pieces just happen to fall in place.

Take a 6-piece puzzle and shake all of the parts up while still in the box. Now open the box up. You will find pieces in all sort of unorganized positions. Feel free to repeat as often as you like. How many attempts would you guess it would require opening the box and seeing the puzzle arranged in its correct order? Apply this same principle to a larger puzzle, 100 pieces, and 1000 piece, maybe a 100,000-piece puzzle. Look at the Earth. Some scientists believe that matter just combined and formed the planet. Remember the puzzle pieces in the box? Yes, some scientist say it works just that way, and not once but countless times across the known and unknown universe. This, they say, was accomplished with matter found randomly, that randomly happened to crash into each other at the precise moment it was needed. Want to try the puzzle in the box trick again? But this time, let us make it a more accurate test. We will attempt at puzzle with 5 trillion pieces. I can just imagine the scientist or non-believers that attempt the puzzle in the box test. They are shaking their boxes and then viewing the contents with a new failure over and over again. Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over yet expecting different result. He was a scientist who believed in God. This belief in God grew from his knowledge of natures and science. Not all scientists agree with Mr. Einstein. In my mind's eye, I can see them dismissing the results with worldly rhetoric and exclaiming, "My God, this is heavy?" after a few thousand failed tries. I think some scientists believe that God must be mystical. That being said, God must be the opposite of science. I believe God works using the laws of science, just on a much higher level.
Do you still some doubts? Get your box and puzzles ready, on my count we shall start shaking, 1... 2 ... 3... Well, you all go ahead. I already know how this turns out. No matter how you try to break the universe down into explanations or theories, there will always be some missing puzzle pieces. Maybe they will be slightly out of place, or may even be way off, but some how some way things will just not add up. You may call it faith. I, however, know it is fact. Man has never been able to fully explain the nature of the universe with science, myth or legends, unless they include God. He is the Eternal Father, Master and Architect of the Universe.

I submitted this essay to www.thisIbelieve.com

2008 Election and Hulk Hogan

I did not vote in the last Presidential Election because I did not feel either candidate was good for our country. Really that is not a good reason not to vote. I was just disgruntled with our political process. There were only a few candidates from either party that spoke and actually made any sense to me. As the election process dredged on, I witness more and more expensive parlor tricks and not any real substance. The last two candidates from the major parties were not people I felt had the ethics and knowledge to lead the country back to financial and moral stability. The drama reminded me more of a high school election than a Presidential Election. There was name-calling, lying, cheating, religious discrimination, racial under tones and even age discrimination to name a few of the dirty tactics. More of the national stage time was taken up by these “Jerry Springer – like” side show antics then by the real issues. When the issues were addressed still these high school musical song and dances would commence. Maybe this was amusing or fun for some, I however was not entertained. The reality of what the office of the President of the United States stands for and the amount of responsibility that accompanies the job is above the childish action of some of the candidates and their affiliates.

To illustrate my point Mike Huckabee, the current host of Fox News Channel’s Huckabee talk show, began to bring up Mormon doctrine while debating Mitt Romney. The doctrine in question is not the issue, but the fact that Mr. Huckabee did not agree with it was his point. He was grand standing to rally other people that do not believe as Mr. Romney. Mr. Huckabee could have very well just said hey let’s all make fun of the Mormon. As I watched this blatant ad hominem illogical fallacy, I was very disappointed in this action. Why would a man who claims to be a follower of Christ act in such a manner? This man was running to be the President of the United States of America and he failed to handle himself in a respectful manner during a debate. If Mr. Huckabee was to be elected we could only expect the same type of behavior with foreign dignitaries of different religious backgrounds. Maybe he would quote a line penned by Chuck D of the rap group Public Enemy,” Crucifixion ain’t no fiction” while dinning with the Israeli Prime Minister, maybe just to open a dialog.

The unprecedented celebrity endorsement push for all of the candidates was quite a spectacle and distraction from the real issues. Marla Maples, Donald Trump’s ex wife, endorsed Hillary Clinton. Jenna Jameson, Jerry Springer, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Ron Howard, America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Fran Drescher, John Grisham and Magic Johnson, Sally Field, Bradley Whitford and Christine Lahti. Gene Wilder, Oprah Winfrey, Robert DeNiro, Kerry Washington, Usher, Chris Rock, Brendan Routh, Kate Walsh, Kal Penn, Tate Donovan, Forest Whitaker, Enrique Marciano, Ed Norton, Scarlett Johansson and Alfre Woodard. I am aware that actors and sports heroes have backed candidates in the past. This was just too over the top. As this parade of stars smiled and waved to the crowd and the crowd just forgot about the challenges we face as a nation.

This last election was too much of a show and not enough substance for my taste. From behavior unworthy of men who influence so many to voting with the stars, the 2008 Presidential Election was quite a menagerie. Our President is supposed to be a person of high moral fiber and integrity. Presidential hopefuls dangled star power in front of the masses looking to make the election a popularity contest. Still, I should have voted for Hulk Hogan, he is my favorite write in candidate.

I have an Idea

The American people are over burdened with taxes, fees and cumbersome government processes. We are constantly carrying the enormous weight of our elected government official’s lofty lives. This needs to change! Really, we need to go back to how things were originally set up by our Founding Fathers. Before the birth of big business interest groups and overtly greedy Politian, the Founding Father agreed that government serves was just that, service. Thus, public servants were the exorbitant salaries and benefits to discharge their sworn duties. We The People should not be burdened by the weight of our government officials.

The current salary for a House and Senate member is $174,000.00 per year. To the credit of the member of both houses, Congressmen can choose to decline raises and some of them do. There are 530 elected officials, multiplied by $174,000.00 per year, plus $193,400 per both sets of Majority and Minority Party Leaders and $223,500 for the Speaker of the House, that equals a whopping 93,217,100.00 burden place on the backs of the Citizens of this Great Nation annually. In addition to that 93 million, We The People shoulder another burden. Every time there is a congressional pay raise federal judges and senior government officials also receive a raise. Also, generously We The People grant our hard working elected officials a COLA or cost-of-living-adjustment.

The financial strain that Congressional personnel place on the American people does not end with their salaries. What is a job with out benefits? Before 1984, neither congressmen nor any other federal civil workers paid Social Security. In lieu of Social Security another program called Civil Service Retirement. So until 1984 they did not pay nor draw benefits from Social Security. Since 1984, federal employees and congress members have had the Federal Employee’s Retirement System. This system is funded by a 1.3 percent tax on the participant’s pay the rest is funded by the American people. Only 6.2 percent of the participants pay is taxed for Social Security. At the age of 50 congress members are eligible to draw a pension if they have completed 20 years of service. After 25 years of service they are eligible with no age restriction. Once a congressman has served 5 years and reaches the age of 62 they can draw their pension. The amount of the pension is determined by number of years served and the average of the highest 3 years of salary. The Law states that no retirement annuity is to be greater that 80% of their final salary. If one of these beneficiaries passes away, their surviving family members can receive the benefits and the COLA.

These figures do not include health benefits, travel expenses, lodging expenses, their staff’s salaries and benefits. We The People are paying too much to keep our government working. Our government should be working for us.

How did this all get so out of control? We have a rich history that we allow laws to be passed during times of turmoil bring these lucrative changes. In the days of our Founding Fathers (1789 to 1855) Congressmen were paid a daily per diem of $6.00. The only exception to that was from December 1815 to March 1817 when they received an annual salary of $1,500.00. The first pay raise was temporarily in place after the war of 1812. While the Constitutional Convention was in session, Benjamin Franklin proposed that elected officials should not be paid at all. Mr. Franklin believed service was the duty of every educated man with the means to serve. In 1854, the country was put into a fear-induced frenzy over the immigration of German and Irish Catholic immigrants. Then in 1855, the pay for congressmen changed from $6.00 a day to $3000.00 a year. The people perceive a threat, action is called for and before the crisis has ended, and congress gets a raise. This process repeats and repeats, thus bring us to present day.

From $6.00 a day to a staring annual compensation of $223,500.00 plus benefits Congress has COLA the American people out of our hard earned money. We The People are being bled dry by our government by being taxed, fees assessed and processes drawn out to get us to pay even more. Our Founding Father should have listened to Benjamin Franklin. The situation is well with in out power to fix. We The People need to stop paying our government so generously and focus on the needs of the people. Our government was set up for the to service the needs of our great country. Congress needs to cut their wages and benefits by 75% to ease the burdens of the American people. That is a $69,912,825.00 tax break annually on just their pay alone. We have allowed this process to continue far too long. $70 million plus benefit reduction can boost our economy by not draining it to begin with.

FYI. I sent this to Orrin Hatch. Let's see if he writes back.