A Modern Day Council of Nicaea

Since governments get their most power from war, maybe religions realize their economic prosperity and survival involves peace and cooperation.

I wrote a blog on 4/30/2007 titled, Religious Wars, http://f4u.blogspot.com/2007/04/religious-wars.html In that blog I said, "The First Council of Nicaea, held in Turkey in 325 by Roman Emperor Constantine, was to attain a consensus on some Christian doctrines and practices. Constantine avoided a fissure in Christendom at that time, and probably avoided much bloodshed. It's too bad for all religions they do not have a modern Constantine today."

I expected this modern day meeting to be many years away, but Islamic and Christian leaders are planning on talking to each other now. Maybe they have decided it is better to share the market than to kill the market. They realize many people in the world see religions of today still causing war. The religions' leaders have to find a way to stop the declining membership in churches.

The Catholic Pope has made trips abroad in 2008 in an attempt to shore up flagging membership in the Catholic Church and Catholic schools.

Technology has made it easier for different people of different religions to travel abroad and see that there are other views about God. This has a tendency to dilute the effect a village priest or Imam used to have when the flow of information was limited.

The preachers, Imams, and priests have to figure a way to combat growing atheism.

I haven't seen anything on the MSM about these religions meeting. The media loves war and conflict. Reporting about another day of peace will not reap much advertising revenue.

Charles Tolleson

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0730/p02s01-ussc.html
This week, a global bid to connect Muslims and Christians Faith leaders' quest for understanding, commonality begins Tuesday at Yale. By Jane Lampman Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the July 29, 2008 edition

Top-tier religious leaders in the Muslim world are emerging as major proponents of dialogue with Christians and other world faiths. With two distinct initiatives this month, they are breaking new ground and sending signals to Muslims and others globally that interreligious understanding and joint action are Islamic values.

Those involved see the initiatives, if sustained, as breaking down misperceptions, strengthening mainstream religious voices on the world stage, and diminishing the influence of extremism.

This week, Yale University hosts the first of four meetings between prominent Muslim and Christian leaders from across the globe, with discussions rooted in foundational principles of the two faiths. The conference beginning Tuesday is the first fruit of "A Common Word between Us and You," the letter sent last fall by 138 Muslim leaders from 40 nations to the leaders of the world's Christian churches.

LA City Council to ban fast food restaurants

I've been wrong by thinking we lived in a free market society. Now LA wants to restrict "Fast Food" restaurants. That reduction in supply of restaurants will only increase the cost of "fast food" to the consumer. Then the government will "feel" a need to step in and help the consumer, again.

It's not the fast food restaurants that cause obesity. Most people consume less than 25% of their food outside the home.

Rebeca Torres, a South Los Angeles mother of four, said she would welcome more dining choices, even if she had to pay a little more. "They should have better things for children," she said. "This fast-food really fattens them up."

Rebeca, they do have better things for children. Parents, not some government employee, should see to it that their children select the proper foods. Don't buy your kids any junk food. Tell them to go outside and play instead of watching TV. The weather in LA is good enough for children to play outdoors all year.

What creates obesity is too many calories. What does the government schools teach during 12 years of forced schooling? Doesn't the government schools teach about caloric intake? Ah, I know. The government schools teach that the government can solve all your problems, even your over indulgence of food.

As long as government provides free health care, look for govenment employees to try and control your health by telling you what to eat.

Charles Tolleson

Edited 7/30/2008
The day after I posted this blog I read a news story that Dunkin' Donuts will offer healthier foods. The market works.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080729/ap_on_he_me/fast_food_ban;_ylt=AjX23B7RNMAczI3d6AIV6Pas0NUE

In the impoverished neighborhood of South Los Angeles, fast food is the easiest cuisine to find — and that's a problem for elected officials who see it as an unhealthy source of calories and cholesterol.

The City Council was poised to vote Tuesday on a moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a swath of the city where a proliferation of such eateries goes hand-in-hand with obesity.
"Our communities have an extreme shortage of quality foods," City Councilman Bernard Parks said.

Congress to bail out bad loans

Congress to the rescue. We want to live in a risk free society. We want the freedom to jump into the latest investment bubble and get rich schemes, but if we lose we want congress to rescue us. We want part of capitalism, the part that allows us to make more. We want the gain, but not the pain. Congress will try to eliminate our pain.

"The bill sets a cap of $625,000 on the loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may buy and the FHA may insure."

Now why would Fannie and Freddie be allowed to buy such large mortgages? That has nothing to do with helping the middle and lower classes stay in their homes. Could it have to do with the "Truth in Lending" act that goes back to 1968. If there are loans that are too complex for the borrower to understand the original lender must take back the loan. This could cause huge loses to the banking system. Buyers of those bad loans could make the banks take them back. The government probably looks at this bailout as being cheaper than dealing with a collapsed national banking system.

Congress says this bill will help prevent 400,000 foreclosures. There are over 100 million homes in the U.S.!

The politicians wanted "affordable housing." Now that they have it they are trying to prevent houses from becoming even more affordable.

The foreclosures are in the urban areas where banks used to avoid loans. The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 said banks could not discriminate with their lending. The government forced banks to make bad loans and then the government bought these bad loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. So now the government will require homeowners and renters who pay their mortgages to buy up the foreclosed urban homes to help out the cities who cannot manage their own budgets.

The bill will provide 4 billion dollars for communities to buy up foreclosed homes. Why? Because the back property taxes owed will first be paid, then the remainder to the banks. The communities want and need this tax revenue for the fine pay and perks of their city and county employees.
All but three Democrats voted in favor of the bill, so guess which communities will receive the grant money to buy the foreclosed properties. It will be the minority communities, the democratic congressional districts, the democratic mayors, who will receive the grants.

"And it increases the statutory limit on the national debt by $800 billion, to $10.6 trillion."

$10.6 trillion our children will owe! I'm required to have a leash on my dog when I walk her. I wish I could put a leash on congress instead.

Charles Tolleson
-------------------------------------http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080723/ap_on_go_pr_wh/congress_housing;_ylt=ArnaIiNvk.Ly1CIr_Pu0_sOs0NUE
Congressional analysts estimated Tuesday that the rescue could cost $25 billion, but predicted there's a better than even chance it won't be needed at all.
The bill would let hundreds of thousands of homeowners trapped in mortgages they can't afford on homes that have plummeted in value escape foreclosure by refinancing into more affordable, fixed-rate loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration. Lenders would have to agree to take a substantial loss on the existing loans, and in return, they would walk away with at least some payoff and avoid the often-costly foreclosure process.

Rockefeller Foundation Survey

Well, there you have it. The generation Y ers will get more socialism, or fascism, whatever you want to call it. Imagine that. After socialism has been proven a failure for thousands of years, people are still lured to it as the best way to insure their genes survive. We could say the lure is a result of the average IQ of the American voter, except it has been a lure for eons, long before democracy existed. The market will find efficiency.

These people who want government to somehow control labor misses the point that liberty is about unregulated labor, not controlled and central planned labor. http://praxeology.net/GM-LTS-I.htm

The good news, 80% believe they must be responsible for their financial security. (Even Obama made a speech about individual responsibility.)

But the idea that the government is the problem solver ignores the value of individual responsibility, for which 80% of those surveyed approve.

Charles Tolleson, Individualist
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http://www.rockfound.org/about_us/press_releases/2008/071708rf_time_poll.shtml
4. Americans are calling for new solutions. Americans want to work hard and improve their family’s economic standing (80% believe they must be responsible for their financial security), but they are also calling out for a hand-up, rather than a hand-out, and are asking for new products and policy solutions to reinforce their efforts: 70% say more government programs should help those struggling due to current economic conditions. Americans support major government investments that create jobs – including public-works projects (82%), new measures to improve energy efficiency (84%), and initiatives to expand access to high-quality health care (77%). Americans also favor investments that make it easier for people to work – for example, paid family leave (68%) and government funded child care (66%).

The Rockefeller Foundation was established in 1913 by John D. Rockefeller, Sr., to "promote the well-being" of humanity by addressing the root causes of serious problems. With assets of more than $4 billion, the Foundation supports work around the world to expand opportunities for poor or vulnerable people and to help ensure that the benefits of globalization are more widely shared.

Obama sounds more like a war hawk each day

Obama sounds more like a war hawk each day.

Obama meets Karzai, vows steadfast Afghan aid By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged steadfast aid to Afghanistan in talks Sunday with its Western-backed leader and vowed to pursue the war on terror "with vigor" if elected, an Afghan official said.

Now that he has the democratic nomination locked up its time for Barack Obama to sound like a warrior. To 'continue the war against terrorism with vigor' sounds like something we have been hearing for the past 6 years from the Bush administration. Grrrrrrr!

The cold war lasted over 40 years. As long as our foreign policy is based on Bible scripture, Israel's right to exist, http://ldolphin.org/landrights.html, the war against terrorism will last longer than the cold war. Buying defense stocks is the best way to profit from the war killings.

Israel certainly has a right to exist, if they own land they purchased legally. They do not have the right to tell me I must recognize their country. They do not have a right to force me to give them aid and comfort. The United States should stop supporting the right for Israel to exist based on Bible verses.

If the Jews want to move to the United States, or any other country, and buy some land and create a country for Zionism, they should have that right.

The Amish in Pennsylvania should also have the right to declare their independence and create a state with the land they own, if they so desire.

No man is free unless he can declare his own independence and create his own country. If one is not free to declare their independence, then one is a slave to the tribe to which they belong. If they leave one tribe and join another they are still a slave to the new tribe. The only way one can be free is to start their own tribe with their own rules.

Wherever one creates their country, they are required to provide their own protection.

Charles Tolleson

Pope Benedict, the new God is Gaia

Pope Benedict is visiting Australia in an attempt to shore up declining membership in the Catholic Church. The Pope recently made a trip to the U.S. for the same promotion. In both visits the Pope apologized for the recent sex scandals that hurt church attendances and hurt enrollment in the private Catholic schools.

In Australia the Pope lashed out at today's "cult of material possessions." The Pope seems to be saying that greed is a sin.

In a speech in Sydney in front of a gathering of young people, Pope Benedict said, "Reluctantly we come to acknowledge that there are also scars which mark the surface of our earth, erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world's mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an insatiable consumption."

He told the young people, some of whom had come from island nations threatened by rising sea levels, that protecting the environment was "of vital importance to humanity." Who paid for their visit from these other island nations? It was the Catholic Church in cahoots with World Youth Day. http://www.wyd2008.org/ Imagine that! The Catholic Church paying the expenses to gather an audience for the Pope's speech.

In a welcoming speech to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday morning, the pope said: "It is appropriate to reflect upon the kind of world we are handing on to future generations."

The Catholic church will evolve over the next thousand years. Look for them to place God in the background and discover a more important god, and a more popular god because this god is a female. The new God will be Gaia, Mother Earth. Gaia is based on Greek mythology. What's one more myth in worship?

The Pope is joining his church to the current popular environmental belief in order to keep its membership strong. Whatever dogma changes are necessary, churches that have gone with the politically correct dogmas have survived and prospered. During slavery church pastors would tell the congregations that slavery was approved by God. This assuaged the plantation owners who heard these words and relieved them of their guilt. In return they would make a contribution to the church when the plate was passed around. When slavery was no longer politically correct, the pastors stopped condoning it.

Now that global warming and the threat to the environment has become the new religion that has captured the souls of people in the west, it is only proper for the public relations department of the churches and religions to jump on board.

Technology and science plays a role in changing church dogmas. Galileo's telescope made the church stop advocating that the earth is the center of the universe.

Islam's dogmas have been slow to change because science and technology has arrived late to Islam. The Internet, cell phones, and feminism will change Islam. As membership in the Muslim churches start to decline, look for the Islamic clerics to also find new dogmas to promote.

Charles Tolleson, the happy skeptic

For God so loved the world he gave his son

And you thought Obama was a peace candidate! Not according to a recent speech when Barack Obama said, "The central front in the war on terror is not Iraq and it never was. And that is why the second goal of my new strategy will be taking the fight to al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan."
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-07-15-voa39.cfm

No one wants a milksop to be a tribal leader. We want a man, or woman, who has some balls. We want someone who will protect us. Look for Obama's future photo ops to show him stomping around the battlefield like a warrior, with plenty of bodyguards.

Obama's speech, with the usual backdrop of American flags, (always many, many flags as stage props), was all about showing that the war in Iraq is not important, but war elsewhere IS important, and that Obama has the balls to be your tribal leader and execute the "proper war", but war nonetheless, always for your protection, because the State loves you.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16

The point is, that war will go on, whether under a democrat or republican, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, or some other country.

"War is the health of the state", Randolph Bourne. War gives the state power, power that is sanctified in the name of State love and protection. The state loves you, like God loved his only begotten son so much God allowed his son to be killed, for you. As a payback to God, you must repay God by your worship.

So to must you repay the state. The state has sacrificed your sons in wars, because the state loves you. Now you must worship the State because it loves and protects you.

Charles Tolleson

Bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Two Government "Sponsored" Enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are in trouble.

Fannie Mae, created in 1938, is 70 years old. The Soviet Union was 72 when it collapsed. I suspect the lifespan of central planned economies may be about that long. Look at Social Security and Medicare. They to are doomed to failure.

The ranking government employees are calling for government help to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to save the economy. The number 3 ranking government employee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wants Fannie Mae to guarantee loans up to $730,000! Why so much? Could it be that Nancy Pelosi represents an expensive housing district, San Francisco? She is trying to protect those property tax revenues that empower the government. Without money the government loses power. Without money the government cannot buy loyalty. Without money the government mob cannot pay their enforcers.

Why did government employees create these GSEs in the first place? Was it the bankers and lenders who wanted a place to dump their mortgages? Was it the building industry lobby that thought home building would help their industry?

Fannie Mae was created and promoted as helping create an ownership society. The government employees want an ownership society because owners are more stable. Owners want to protect their property and therefore submit more to the God State for protection. The ownership society bid up the price of homes and the property tax revenues for the local and state gods soared. If the prices of these properties decrease, the tax blood the local and state employees drink and live on will also decrease.

Of course, liberals and central planning Utopians will always blame the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on capitalism. They are convinced that a committee of central planning controllers can make a dozen decisions that will be better than a billion on the spot decisions made by millions of buyers and sellers who are looking out for their own best interests.

The government says they will lend money to Fannie and Freddie. Where will they get the money? The government will "monetize" the problem. Monetize is another word for counterfeit. The counterfeiter is the one who benefits the most by their counterfeit dollars because they are the first ones to use them. By the time those newly printed dollars gets down to the consumer, through the banks, the dollars are worth less.

Charles Tolleson

Independence Day 2008, not so independent

It's "Independence Day", July 4, 2008.

Do you feel independent? Do you have the right to explode a firecracker on your own property?

Do you have a right to keep what you produce and not have the Federal and State mobs confiscate up to 50% of your production? Compare the tax collection now to that 1-2.5% collected by the British from the colonists at the time the Declaration of Independence was written and tell yourself you are independent.

Do you feel like the State is your master, telling you what you can, should, or cannot do, or do you feel like you are the master and your government is your servant?

We will hear the usual platitudes about how wonderful the State is. We will see firework displays by the government on government property by government or government approved operators, but you as an individual are not independent enough to explode a small sparkler on your own property, legally, in most states and cities.

We will see the flags waving and the military jets flying over. None of this is honoring independence. It is honoring the state and their war abilities. The ceremonies will be to remind us of how protected we are, not how independent we are. The ceremonies will make us cheer and be proud to be a member of the big warring tribe that keeps us safe.

We even make laws about how we should worship the state (below). Why would the government make laws telling veterans, and military personnel out of uniform, they should salute the flag? Do they want more public recognition of compliance by the populace and more symbols of idolatry to the State?

People all over the world have fought for independence. To listen to American news one would think that only the Americans of 1776 fought for independence. Right now people in Iraq and Afghanistan are fighting for independence against the Martial Law imposed by the United States. Do we recognize their desperate fight for independence? No. We call them derogatory names and kill them.

It's time we have a day to celebrate real independence, self reliance and individualism.

Charles Tolleson

PL 110-181: Veterans may now render the military salute to the flag.U.S. Government Printing Office Web Site ^ 28 Jan 2008 United States Congresshttp://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ181.110(You can tab down to Sec. 594 to verify if you wish.)
Public Law 110-181, Section 594:
SEC. 594. CONDUCT BY MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AND VETERANS OUT OF UNIFORM DURING HOISTING, LOWERING, OR PASSING OF UNITED STATES FLAG.
Section 9 of title 4, United States Code, is amended by striking ``all persons present'' and all that follows through the end of the section and inserting the following: ``all persons present in uniform should render the military salute. Members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute. All other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, or if applicable, remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Citizens of other countries present should stand at attention. All such conduct toward the flag in a moving column should be rendered at the moment the flag passes.''.