False Prophets and the War on Women

A current popular meme for those supporting the Obama ticket is the supposed "war" on women. 

This war was supposedly started by Rush Limbaugh when he called Sandra Fluke nasty names. Ms. Fluke was the Georgetown student who testified before congress that the religious college she attended, Catholic Georgetown, should be forced to purchase contraceptives for her. I am not a listener to Limbaugh, but it seems to me that he should have instead pointed out the dumbness of her testimony. First Fluke's estimate of $1000 a year for birth control was absurdly high. The correct figure is $9 a month at the Walgreens nearest the college. Even ignoring the religious rights issue of forcing religious institutions to pay for abortion pills for students, Georgetown is a private university. Whatever it costs the university will be ultimately charge back to the student. Fluke will pay the bill for the pill either way. 

In a very odd screed a blogger for The Hill, Brent Budowsky, had this to say:

The Ayn Rand-like reactionary budgeting of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (R) is a dagger in the hearts of programs that serve women. The Austrian economics of Ron Paul is from the wrong century and the wrong continent, and profoundly hurts women.

To call Ryan Ayn Rand-like is laughable. Ryan is not even Rand Paul-like! His budget does not in fact cut anything. I blogged on this recently. 

Why then does the author lie? It fits his agenda. So rather than actually debate the fiscal train wreck that is coming, instead we talk about contraceptives. 

Here is what Bloomberg thinks:

Inaction isn’t inevitable: Deficit reduction is an unusual issue in that both parties fundamentally agree on the goal, even if they don’t agree on how to achieve it.

Actually both parties are in agreement, that no cuts are needed. No one but someone named Paul has actually suggested that the budget be balanced. 

Worse, too much deficit reduction too fast will hurt economic growth. You can see that happening in Europe, where an excess of austerity has tipped a number of nations into fiscal holes they can’t seem to climb out of. In a city as obsessed with deficits as Washington, yet unwilling to strike smart deals that pair long-term deficit reduction with short-term support for the economy, a bad turn in the economy or a set of policy misjudgments remain a real threat.

Doesn't Ezra Klein (author of the comments above) understand that the reason Greece used austerity was that it had no choice. No one would buy Greek bonds. Portugal and Spain are almost at this point—Ireland too. You cannot run a deficit if you do not have the money. Italy is not too far behind. Japan is talking about doubling their sales tax. Even that will not be enough. 

The US and Japan do control their own currency, unlike Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. I am not sure that this will be an advantage when the time comes that no one buys their bonds. Right now the Federal Reserve buys 61% of all new debt that the US issues. What happens when the Fed has to buy all debt issued—even the debt that would normally be rolled over? It will not be pretty. 

Maybe I am wrong and people like Klein and Budowsky are only deluded. I do not know where their head is—but that place is dark, warm and smells bad. 

How long before the US cannot sell bonds? I have been saying 3 to 7 years. Maybe if the Ryan budget passes this might be longer. Let’s say 4 to 8 years. This would mostly be psychological as the average person would not understand that the Ryan budget is a joke. 

I wrote about prophets last Friday. True prophets are not well received. This is why the false prophets of our congress and journalists are so well received. They say what is expected. I will close with what Noam Chomsky (Yes I know ...) said about true Bible prophets: 

The people who were honored in the Bible were the false prophets. It was the ones we call the prophets who were jailed and driven into the desert, and so on.

This is why Paul is so condemned. It is because he is right.  

Blind, Deaf and Oh, So Dumb

People do not understand Bible prophecy. They confuse prophecy with predicting the future. There is an element of the prediction of the future in some Bible prophecy—it depends on the book and its purpose.

Mainly, when a prophet "predicts" the future it is along these lines:

“What you are doing is not working. Why do you think you can be a people of violence, and not be subject to violence? When you bash in the heads of the little ones of your enemies, do you really think that your little ones will not suffer the same fate? The hungry cry at the street corners and you drive on by in your Mercedes. Do you think God is blind? The drunk stands on the corner and pretends to cry, so even the just are unable to act rightly. After eating a feast that would feed two you tell the waitress, 'Yes, I want the banana split.' The poor see their bones, but you can't see your toes.”

“I will not even bother to punish you. Instead I will let your own sins blowback be your punishment. Soon you will see your toes again, but you will not rejoice. The Greenlawn you are destined for will turn brown when your children cannot pay your bills. Will your children repent, or will they instead curse you?  ‘Our parents have bought swimming pools, and borrowed money for vacations in Aruba, and there is nothing left for us but this t-shirt.’”

I have not heard anything like this from our modern "prophets," have you? Nor will you. Instead you will hear prophets do like they did for my mom and predict that she would write a book. I knew she would not as she was too frail. I was right, the prophet "speaking for the Lord" was wrong.

Do not listen to the court prophets of this world who speak what you want them to speak. They can be bought. They deceive themselves. I am not just talking about religious people. These prophets in our society are called politicians, pundits on Fox News, and Federal Reserve chairmen. They are at best self-deceived and at worst liars hoping to kick the can down the road one more time.

And no, I do not think I am a prophet. I am merely telling you what a prophet would say if God really wanted to talk to us. He won't because He knows we are blind, deaf, and oh, so dumb. 

Happy Rainbow Unicorns and the Ryan Budget

My daughter is 8 years old, and even though we have never celebrated Christmas she tells me that she believes in Santa. I think she is teasing me. I hope she is teasing me. My other children know I love to tease. It seems only fair that I get teased back. 

But even my daughter does not believe in happy rainbow unicorns. Looking over Congressman Ryan's proposed budget I have to conclude that he believes in happy rainbow unicorns. Republican president nominee Romney (I speak only slightly prematurely as it is Romney's turn) has worked closely with Ryan. This is his budget now. I guess Romney believes in happy rainbow unicorns too—or is willing to pretend he does until election day. 

I am supposed to take heart from the fact that Obama's budget believes in flying happy rainbow unicorns—but I just get depressed. There are no cuts. The economic assumptions are absurd. Obama's projection is that spending will increase 5% yearly over the next 10 years. Ryan is proposing that the spending will grow 4% over the next ten years. Neither approach can be sustained.

You don't believe me that the Ryan budget had few cuts? Look at this chart shamelessly stolen from Veronique de Rugy at National Review's The Corner. 

 

Yes he does cut a little here and there, mostly from abolishing ObamaCare.  But actually, in toto, the Ryan budget has no cuts. Spending just grows slightly more slowly.  

I was hoping for a Romney Unicorn picture too. He deserves one just as much as Obama. Ryan has promised a tax cut. But due to the way the Congressional Budget Office calculates things this is actually a 2 trillion dollar tax increase as a 4 trillion dollar tax increase is already baked into CBO's figure for the next ten years. Welcome to Republican Math. 

Obama's version of this is a 3 trillion dollar tax cut that is actually a 1 trillion dollar tax increase. Welcome to Democratic Math.

I would actually favor a rather large tax increase if spending could be cut in exchange. I must believe in happy rainbow unicorns too. 

Of course the immediate result was an outcry. Ryan is cruel to seniors. Ryan is cruel to the poor. Ryan favors the rich. Maybe all these things are true. Consider for a moment what will happen when investors realize that the whole federal budget is a house of cards that is crashing down. Bond sales will stop. Then either the budget gets cut 50% right then, or we print money and head toward hyperinflation. Large cuts now are better than draconian cuts later. 

In the interests of safety I have included this picture of Unicorn droppings for easy identification if it drops from the sky!If Ryan's modest cuts reduction in spending increases result in this much outrage, will the streets be quiet when the real cuts come? 

My advice to you is that you get out your shovel. To paraphrase a recent Rick Santorum rant, this is unicorn ****. There is going to be a lot of manure to clean up. Be Careful! Obama's unicorns fly.  

Waste Of Time

I have an acquaintance, you would think he would be a friend, but we are not. Not even on Facebook. We go to similar churches. We are roughly the same age. Right now he is a missionary in India. I even support the ministry that is helping his efforts. I think that many who read my blog will know who he is. But yet we are not friends. Why? Politics.

This is a Still from the Famous Johnson Daisy Ad. A Vote For Johnson Was A Vote For Peace.I heard it said once that if Satan cannot get at you any other way he will waste your time. What is a bigger waste of time than politics? It would be an unusual election where the elites that run the country let voters decide anything.

I was too young to vote in the 1964 election but I remember an old joke from that election: "In the 1964 election I was told by some pundits that if I voted for Goldwater we would soon be in a land war in Asia. I voted for Goldwater, and yes we were soon in a land war in Asia!" But not because Goldwater won. He didn’t. Johnson did. Voting for Goldwater or Johnson in 1964 did not matter on the issue of Vietnam. Voting for Obama or McCain did not matter on the issues of war that we have today.

Sure there are differences. Aqua is a different color than turquoise, isn't it?

Ron Paul supporters are finding this out. Ron Paul is so different that he cannot be allowed to even have a modest success. A lot of delegates are chosen by convoluted caucus systems. This is how Obama won. He concentrated on delegates, not votes. Paul is trying such a strategy. He is having less success. One reason is that the establishment is cheating.

If you want to understand why so many Paul supporters are angry, watch the video.

This is happening all over the country. The strategy of the establishment is now to forbid video recordings, so you may not see too many more videos like this. Here is an article about a Missouri Caucus.

In St. Charles, an exurb of St. Louis and one of the state’s largest GOP counties, Paul supporters sought to elect their own chairman and adopt their own rules when proceedings opened — both of which are part of standard caucus rules and procedure. But as they argued with the caucus chair, Paul supporters held video cameras — against caucus rules, according to a GOP official who was there — and things became contentious.

(This is the end of the quote. If I was a conspiracy theorist I would conclude that there was a plot to keep me from formatting the quote properly. But alas I am sure there is some emdeded code I can not get rid of. One hour is enough time spent on formatting one blog post.)  

No delegates were selected, yet a full slate of delegates was sent to the state convention. It will be interesting to see how that will turn out. My guess is that those arrested were those that refused to turn off their cameras. If you actually watched the video, you can see why they wanted the videos on, and why the establishment wanted them off.

I was called a coward on Facebook because I pointed these things out and said I would not vote for Romney. Maybe I am a coward. Cowardice can serve you well: as the Chinese say, the tallest tree is chopped down first.

I am reminded of a game my boys and I played at Shoney's. It was a rather typical kid’s game, heads you went one space, tails you went two, with Shoney the bear smiling in approval. We discovered quickly that there was one section where you needed to be able to move three spaces from a coin toss to pass. A coin does not have three sides. We quit the game, as it was impossible to win. Paul supporters will quit the "game" when they realize they can't win. Hello President Obama.

As you can see the outcome of the Republican nomination is all but decided already—it is Romney's turn.

So the whole process is a waste of time. Remember what Joseph Stalin probably never said, "It does not matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes." Are Ron Paul supporters naïve to expect anything different? Yes. 

Libya & Journalism

I remember all the hype about the evils of Gaddafi. I have no real disagreement with Gaddafi being evil. However, I wondered at the time if what I was hearing about events in Libya was true. What makes this video interesting is that one NGO official (NonGovernment Official) says that there were mercenaries hired by Ghadafi, and then 5 months later she says that there were no mercenaries. 

You can not trust what you read or even see. You can be conned if you are not careful. To answer a question that was posed on Facebook, no you can't trust me either. I might have been conned as well. 

Surely this is not happening in Syria. 

Yes the video is obviously a pro-Syrian video. I heard another video on a podcast, where "Danny" admits that the video is fake. "Syria Danny," where do they get these names, in this other video says that everything he said was true, but the video was faked. This may be true. This happens all the time in televison. But think about what I just said, fake video is common in television-remember this.