Category Better Life

May 7 2015

Of Mordecai, Bonhoeffer, and Such

 

Conservative news outlets and activist groups have been heralding the announcement by Franklin Graham that he will be visiting all fifty States and urging the Christians of the Unites States to awaken to the surge of persecution against the Christian faith both in the citizenry and the government. A worthy quest to be sure, but, given the spotty at best history of the Christian Church in speaking out against persecution, one would wonder if Reverend Graham’s zeal will succumb to the apathy so prevalent in the Christian Church of the United States. It is amazing or perhaps appalling that the people of this Nation, who have been given so much more Freedom, more than any other peoples throughout history, Freedoms given to us for their preservation, and yet we have done so little to protect these Freedoms.

Within it’s storied past, the Judeo-Christian history holds examples to each side of the pendulum of strength as the beasts of repression and oppression have raised their ugly heads in a cyclical pattern to which no civilization seems immune. The Biblical story of Mordecai holds lessons for all of us who now face the rising tide of hatred in this Country. The events recounted from the time of the Persian Empire are the basis for the Feast of Purim that our Jewish friends celebrate to this day.

After his niece, through a series of events, had been chosen to be Queen of Persia, Mordecai made a habit of sitting outside the gate of the palace. He did so in hopes to hear news from the palace so he could look out for his beloved niece. There was resentment in Persia against the Jewish people and because of this Mordecai had advised Esther to keep her lineage a secret.

The King’s second in command was a man named Haman who despised the Jewish people and especially Mordecai. All the people were supposed to bow when Haman walked by, including the Jews. The Jews must have obeyed because Haman’s anger was singular against Mordecai when he refused to bow. It was a violation of the Jewish faith to bow to anything but God. So Mordecai offended Haman and the statutes of the day to stay true to his faith.

Haman manipulated the King and influenced him to sign a law that designated a certain day for all Jews to be killed by the citizens of Persia. It’s interesting that, for all the compromising done by others in bowing to Haman, it did not save them from the new law. It was all the Jews they wanted not just Mordecai. Mordecai told the Queen as much when he informed her of the plot. Even her station would not protect her. She was hated because of her faith.

We all know the story. Queen Esther exposed the plot to her husband. The Laws of the Medes and the Persians bound the King and he could not revoke the law, but he did write another law giving the Jews the right to a defense. Thus, the Hebrew people were saved again from destruction because someone was willing to speak up in the courts of the King.

Fast forward to Germany pre-World War II. The ominous shadow of fascism was over the land. Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned the Christian Church of the dangers of the Third Reich. Bonhoffer admonished the Church that their silence would not save them and that it was immoral. He was ignored.

Bonhoeffer was executed for his faith and his words against the Third Reich. Too late the Church saw their folly and what followed is one of the darkest moments in world history. Those Christians who sought to help the Jewish people were executed right along with them. The others were cowed into silence.

And now today, again, we are being told to be silent and leave our faith at home. In the public place, it is now demanded that we bow to the government and set our beliefs aside or face retribution from our government. To all my fellow Christians, I say this: Silence will not separate you from the persecution that’s on the horizon. The hatred is for all Christians. Not just the vocal ones.

Apr 17 2015

House Votes To Repeal Death Tax

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation to repeal the death penalty, which has unfairly targeted family run businesses.  U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin released this statement concerning his vote on the bill:

WASHINGTON – Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1105, the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015. Congressman Bruce Poliquin released the following statement:

“Family-owned farms, fisheries and wood products companies are vital to the Second District’s economy and community. This vote is a vote for their jobs and our economy.

 

“It’s not fair for hard-working Maine families to start and grow their small businesses, and to pay taxes along the way, to find the IRS knocking on their doors to pay the despised death tax upon the passing of the senior family members.

 

“These family-owned farms, fisheries, and wood products companies provide tens of thousands of jobs and better futures for our Maine families. I’m proud to be part of the effort to repeal the destructive death tax and grow our economy.”

 

Mar 23 2015

Faith – September 11, 2001 to March 23, 2015

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Some of you have commented on the dog that is in the picture with me on our Facebook site.  That is our family dog, Faith.  She was born on that fateful day of September 11th, 2001. She has been a devoted and beloved member of our family for 14 years now.  Always a bundle of energy,  it was a miracle to get her to sit still long enough to get a family picture with her.  Even the picture that I took for TMCV was a series of trial and errors until we got one snap shot.  That’s why we were so saddened this weekend when she suddenly took a turn for the worst and her health failed her.

She had begun this past summer to suffer seizures, which really scared us.  Then this weekend the pain of her condition really became apparent and she had to leave us.  While I’m still very emotional about it and so is my family, we are happy for the great years we had with her.faith2

When I was a little boy, my mother told me something to help me to get over the loss of a family pet. She said that if I prayed faith1to God maybe He would work a miracle and make sure that I could see that pet someday in heaven.  I’m sure that she said that to help sooth my sorrow but I’m still a little boy enough to believe that.

After all, what would heaven be without our animal friends.  So here’s to Faith and the great, beautiful, loyal friend you were and to seeing you someday in heaven.

Mar 19 2015

Scary, Scary IPAB

 

Americans knew that when they were told that they needed to pass the healthcare law in order to see what was in the healthcare law, we were in for some deep piles of “youknowwhatssits”. Now that the Affordable Care Act has been passed, we are now learning that the healthcare monstrosity has moved into the “just wait a while and you’ll never be able to repeal it” phase. The Obama administration is hoping you’ll just “wait a while” until 2017 and here’s why.

Language within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) created a fifteen member regulatory panel called the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). The President of the United States appoints these members. This regulatory board has been given unprecedented autonomy in its legislative power in that the proposals issued from IPAB must be implemented immediately. If the President and the two chambers of Congress cannot come up with a measure that matches, not revokes or countermands, but matches the “proposal” of IPAB within a severely limited amount of time the edicts-Let’s call them what they are-from IPAB must be immediately implemented by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, according to the language in the ACA.

IPAB effectively bypasses any oversight from Congress and cannot be subjected to a veto from the President. There are no checks and balances; in fact, language in the ACA prevents IPAB from ever being repealed after 2017. The ACA goes even further to state that any ruling from the IPAB after 2017 cannot be altered, challenged, or revoked in any way.

So after you’ve wiped the spittle from off the front of your shirt from screaming and frothing, “How can this happen in the United States!!!” let’s take a step back and discuss how this happened in the United States. The simplest explanation is that the intent from the very infancy of the ACA was to bypass and circumvent the checks and balances our government. Peter Orszag, who was a chief architect for President Obama when ACA was passed, said the reason for the failed implementation of government run healthcare is that there is “too much democracy”. Orszag and the President petitioned the writers of the ACA to create IPAB and insure that it was impervious to the obstructions of government oversight. By severing the panel from a system of checks and balances and filling it with unelected members with no accountability to the public, the ACA has insured that IPAB is a law unto itself.

This secretive but all-powerful order of health regulators invokes images of Tolkien’s Ringwraiths, The Black Riders, bent upon the implementation of their dark agenda at all costs and woe to any that oppose them. In a recent article from the Cato Institute, Diane Cohen and Michael F. Cannon contend that IPAB is indeed independent but “in the worst sense of the word. It wields power independent of Congress, independent of the President, independent of the judiciary, and independent of the will of the people.”

The citizens have no recourse against the rulings of IPAB. They cannot challenge any ruling in a court of law. IPAB has the autonomous power to levy taxes and ration healthcare for US citizens, even if these citizens have private healthcare. In truth, actions from IPAB are not legislative but decrees and edicts, which cannot be questioned.

Our next post will expose how that, without repeal, IPAB has the potential to give one unelected official the unfettered power to levy taxes and regulations, appropriate funds, and to have control over the legislative process. Thankfully Maine’s Congressman Bruce Poliquin has co-sponsored a bill with Congressman David (Phil) Roe of Tennessee to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Maine’s Congresswoman Chellie Pingree must join with Congressman Poliquin to repeal this travesty to American freedom. As Cohen and Cannon have warned, IPAB is not just unconstitutional; it is “anti-constitutional.”